The auction started by the Bucharest City Hall for the purchase of 400 new buses was put on hold and will be automatically canceled because no company was registered by August 16, the deadline for submitting bids, reports local Hotnews.ro.

The Bucharest City Hall opened the bid to buy 400 buses for the city’s public transport network in early July. The contract was estimated at some RON 510 million (around EUR 113 million), without VAT.

One of the complaints of those who bought the tender specifications to participate in the auction was that the City Hall didn’t divide the auction into three lots, depending on the size of the buses. The complaint was filed with the National Council for Solving Complaints, but it was solved in favor of the City Hall.

According to the contract, the City Hall wanted to buy 320 buses with a length of 12 meters and a minimum capacity of 96 passengers, 50 buses with a length of 10 meters and a minimum capacity of 70 passengers, and 30 18-meter long buses with a minimum capacity of 135 passengers. Moreover, the buses should have run on EURO 6 engines.

Update: Bucharest City Hall announced on Thursday, August 17, that it would resume the auction for the purchase of 400 new Euro 6 buses, and that the documentation will remain the same. According to the City Hall, the Electronic Procurement System canceled the auction automatically on August 14 due to a technical malfunction.

According to the new calendar, the deadline for submitting bids is September 21, 16:00.

Earlier this month, Bucharest public transport operator RATB also launched a bid to equip the Mercedes Benz Euro 3 buses in its fleet with air conditioning.

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com