October 15 (SeeNews) - Bulgarian construction company GP Group has retracted its offer in a tender for a contract for reconstruction of a tramway section in Sofia, which is part of the EU-financed second phase of the Sofia integrated public transport project, public radio broadcaster BNR reported on Monday.
The public procurement procedure is not completed yet as the contract has not been signed, and the municipality will pick the next-ranked offer, Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandakova was quoted as saying by BNR.
In August, Sofia municipality ranked first a 45.7 million levs ($27.1 million/23.4 million euro) offer by Infra Group tie-up, comprising GP Group and local RVP Ilienci, in the tramway upgrade tender.
The second-ranked offer was filed by a tie-up comprising Spain's Marco Obra Publica and Bulgaria's Integrated Construction Systems, and amounted to 47.5 million levs. In addition to the higher price, the offer was also ranked lower in terms of technical criteria.
However, GP Group will continue work on its other large project in Sofia - the reconstruction of Graf Ignatiev Street, Fandakova was quoted saying.
In September a probe was launched against GP Group over alleged misuse of EU funds. The investigative proceedings were instituted on a notification by deputy prime minister Tomislav Donchev, based on an investigation by local private media outlet Bivol.bg.
Last week, the Bulgarian authorities froze money transfers worth 14 million euro involving companies affiliated with GP Group in relation to the investigation.
On Friday, prime minister Boyko Borissov said that he has asked the head of the government's Road Infrastructure Agency to find a law-compliant way to remove GP Group from projects benefiting from EU financing.
In response to Borissov's statement, the company said later on Friday it will retract its 185 million levs offer, as part of a tie-up with local Global Construction and Via-Plan, for the construction of Zheleznitsa tunnel on Struma motorway.
In August, the Road Infrastructure Agency ranked first the consortium's offer for construction of what is to become Bulgaria's longest motorway tunnel. However, after the ranking was announced, Greece's Aktor and a tie-up of Italy's Todini Costruzioni Generali and its affiliate Todini Bulgaria filed complaints with the competition regulator.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)