"We believe that our arguments are strong and that we have a good chance of wining the (court) process. I don't think it'll take long before the court yields to the pressure to lift the current precautionary measures, which have put the entire procurement process on hold," it quoted Henrikas Bartusevičius, the CEO of KDS, as saying.
If Klaipėdos Nafta signs a contract with Germany's PPS Pipeline Systems, the other bidder, KDS will go all the way up to the European Court of Justice, if needed, to seek compensation from the developer of the LNG terminal project for losses due to the poorly-organized tender process, Bartusevičius says.
"In my opinion, our rival - Germany's PPS - has lowered the cost estimate to an unreasonable level. The choice is simple: either a lower risk for the whole project and a higher price, or a higher risk of the project not being implemented, but a lower price," he said.
PPS offered to build the pipeline link for 95 million litas (EUR 27.5m), not including VAT, some 20 million litas lower than KDS' 115-million-litas bid.
KDS was named the winning bidder at the end of last year, but the Public Procurement Office annulled the results of the bidding. Therefore, Klaipėdos Nafta in February invited the bidders to submit new offers, and this time, the likely winner is PPS.
