Mr. Vice-president,
The reason for writing this letter to you are some events, which had happened recently, corresponding to the procurement for a delivery of 18 new metro trains for the second metrodiameter in Sofia, Bulgaria.
The procurement didn't go well from the start. Fourteen companies have bought documents for participation, but only two had submitted them - The Russian - "Metrovagonmash" and the Spanish - "CAF". Not even one major producer like Siemens or Bombardier submitted their offers! This action aroused some doubt in me, that the procurement is not clear. Today I found an article in one of the Bulgarian newspapers, which can be read in Bulgarian here -
http://www.capital.bg/politika_i_ikonomika/bulgaria/2011/03/25/1065091_durakoustoichiv/My doubt was confirmed. The Russian offer had won. Briefly in the article are mentioned some worrying reasons for corruption in the procurement. Most of the technical and financial requirements appear to be created to serve the Russian offer. For example, there isn't any condition for energy efficiency of the new trains, and it is publicly known that the Russian trains are least efficient and consume big quantity of electricity. In the technical part there is another requirement - one inverter to supply power for two traction engines, which makes only applicable the Russian offer. There are some other technical requirements, which favors the Russian offer - requirement for pneumatically powered doors; train dimensions exact as the Russian model "Rusich"; the construction of the train must be fully welded; automatic gearing and etc. The requirements for the business history of the companies are extremely low and specifically - the requirement for one delivery in the EU was removed in order to serve the Russian company.
My doubts are confirmed and by the fact, that in the official web page of the Sofia metro -
www.metropolitan.bg there isn't any notice, that the Russian offer had won, but there is one on the web page of the company (In Russian)-
http://www.metrowagonmash.ru/press33.htmIt even appears that Siemens had sent a letter, explaining why they did not submitted their offer, but the letter appears to be a top secret document!
Because of those facts, I am kindly asking you, as a person, who uses the metro system in Sofia every day, to conduct a revision on this procurement. For me and the most of the society, it is clear that it is corrupted!
I expect form the commission fast actions!
Sincerely,
Viktor Chaushev
Пратих копие и до ОЛАФ.