| AERO Vodochody AEROSPACE a.s. terminated in June 2013 its involvement in the bidding process for delivery of 12 training aircrafts for Polish Air Force.
„With regard to chaotic proceeding from the awarding authority side and ambiguities in the tender specifications, we decided to termite our participation in the bidding process. Polish side was informed of our decision in advance before the deadline for bids submission,” said president of the company Ladislav Šimek.
AERO participated in the last tender for delivery of lead in fighter trainers (LIFT) for Polish air force, which was cancelled in December 2011, and it has been also actively participating on bid preparation within the present tender. Regrettably, neither the present competitive tendering did not pass off without problems. Unlike the tender in 2011, whose main problem consisted in very selective requirements on the aircraft favouring selected candidates, the current problems arose from an ambiguous and vague tender specification. “We have been actively trying to communicate with the awarding authority in order to clarify the tender specifications. However, the Polish party did not respond to our comments,” added Šimek.
AERO consider as most serious shortcomings the following:
Terms of the tender documents were not sufficiently specified, the tender specification was ambiguous and contained contradictory information, even errors, which the authority admitted, however, rejected their solutions before the deadline for offer submission.
The amount of required bank guarantee was very high (about half higher than in the case of much more important tender in 2011) and the conditions were contrary to normal practice and international standards – above all it lacked commonly standard specification of the conditions for guarantee drawing on Polish side. Indefinite tender specifications along with vague guarantee specifications would represent for AERO a risk of forfeiture of more than CZK 180 million based on unilateral act of the contracting authority, without a clear breach of contract obligations on the AERO side.
The tender documentation was by the Polish party continuously changed, the latest changes came shortly before bids submission and some of them were not delivered in writing by the closing date for tender bidding.
With regard to the extent of information required there was a suspiciously little time given for preparation of the offer. AERO received the tender specification on 13. May, while submission deadline was set on 7. June. For comparison, in the previous tender gave the Polish side approximately three times more time for the preparation, even though the offer should have been less detailed.
Based on the above mentioned reasons, Aero decided to retreat from its participation in the tender.
The company offered in the tender the L-159 two-seat training aircraft, whose equipment conforms to the training type for future pilots of one of the most advanced versions of the F-16 fighter aircraft, which operates in Poland. Within one week of international exercise in Poland in March 2013 proved the L-159 aircraft full compatibility with the Polish infrastructure and passed all filled missions. The L-159 is a subsonic trainer aircraft equipped with highly advanced avionics, serving in the Czech Air Force. For the purpose of this tender, AERO Vodochody AEROSPACE a.s. was working on a modified version fully matching the Polish conditions, including the involvement of the Polish aviation industry to the supply chain.
Source /Author: Aero Vodochody