Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2016-06-03
Buyer: Femern A/S
Country: DK
Region: Sjælland
Contract type: Works
Procedure: Competitive dialogue
CPV classification: 45000000: Construction work | 45100000: Site preparation work | 45112500 | 45200000: Building and civil engineering work | 45221000: Engineering works for bridges and tunnels
Estimated value: 544300000 EUR
Award criteria: Price, Technical and administrative

Technical requirements: Price
Technical and administrative
The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link Project (‘Project’) is the final stage in the realization of a straight traffic corridor between Scandinavia and continental Europe. This will be an immersed tunnel containing 2 dual carriageways and a twin-track railway, subject to plan approvals. It will traverse the 19 km distance across the Fehmarnbelt between Lolland in Denmark and Puttgarden in Northern Germany. The immersed tunnel elements will be manufactured at a pre-designated site at Rødbyhavn on Lolland (‘Production Site’). The principal contracts are: (1) Tunnel Dredging and Reclamation Contract; (2) Tunnel North Contract; (3) Tunnel South Contract; and (4) Tunnel Portals and Ramps Contract. Contract award notices are being simultaneously published in the Official Journal of the European Union for all 4 Principal Contracts.
The works to be carried out under the Contract were subject to a call for competition (2012/S 192-315516) and the award and terms of the Contract are in accordance with that procedure (a competitive dialogue).
A) However, as part of the procedure, the time limit for completion of the works has been extended as a consequence of the delay of the land works connecting the link in Germany and in order to achieve savings. In the call for competition, the time limit for performance of the Contract was stated to be 78 months. The time limit for performance of the Contract has been extended to 105 months.
B) Furthermore, due to an unforeseen delay in the German Plan Approval process, the Contract is concluded with the addition of a Condition Precedent. This addition follows the principle stated in the call for competition, section VI.3) (and similarly PQQ, section 1.3.6) to the effect that the start of the construction is subject to the approval by the German planning authorities. This principle has been maintained throughout the process, including in Stage 1 invitation and onwards.
According to the Condition Precedent, the Contract does not come into full force and effect until the Owner serves a notice with a works commencement date following the German Plan Approval having been obtained (or the Danish Ministry of Transport and Building decides to start the works regardless), and the Contract will automatically lapse no later than 1.1.2022 (the Contract has several possibilities of lapsing earlier) if the Condition Precedent has not been fulfilled by then.
The contractor will be compensated for the costs related to the inclusion of the Condition Precedent. Prior to award of the Contract, Femern A/S has discussed the terms of adding the Condition Precedent with all participating bidders in an organized process with written feedback and meetings. The terms of compensating the contractor under the Condition Precedent follow from the result of that process and include a fixed compensation for running costs as well as a capped compensation of other documented costs.
Following this, Femern A/S finalized the evaluation, identified the Preferred Bidder (see section V.3)) and awarded the Contract. In connection with the award of the Contract Femern A/S issued a Voluntary ex ante transparency notice (2016/S 048-079337) about the above-mentioned (A) and (B). Femern A/S has now signed the Contract, including the terms relevant to the Condition Precedent, with the Preferred Bidder.
The Project is part of Priority Project No 20 of the European Community TEN-T programme. It is part of the core network corridor 5 (Helsinki-Valetta). The project code is 2007-EU-20050-P.
The total price stated in sections II.2.1) and V.4) is the total price as stated in the contract. This amount does not take the costs related to the Condition Precedent into account, as these costs may vary in accordance with the terms of the contract depending on the timing and (if relevant) terms of the final German Plan Approval.
Regarding the voluntary ex ante transparency notice, as mentioned in section II.1.4) and IV.3.2), the notice was published due to amendments to the Contract that were made during the procedure.
A) Femern A/S considers that the extension of the time limit for completion of the works does not constitute a substantial change. Femern A/S bases this on several factors but most notably (not in order of importance):
1) The amendment was carried out as part of a competitive dialogue (i.e. the purpose of the dialogue is to identify and define the means best suited to satisfy Femern A/S' needs, which infers flexibility),
2) The consequences of the amendment have been subject to competition from all the pre-qualified bidders (i.e. all bidders have submitted bids based on the extended time limit),


Winner: Femern Link Contractors — Portals Group
Number of bids: 4