WRITTEN QUESTION P-0029/03

by Monica Frassoni (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(14 January 2003)

Subject: Contract to build the underground light railway in Brescia, Italy

The town council of Brescia has been planning for some years now to build an underground light railway. After a series of problems involved in finding the necessary funding Brescia town council approved the project to build the underground in decisions No 137 of 26 July 1999 and No 65 of 31 March 2000 and entrusted the public company ASM (now called Brescia Mobilità) with the task of issuing the call to tender.

ASM published the call to tender(1) in the European Official Journal on 20 April 2000. The project entailed building a line approximately 18 km long with 23 stations. An all-inclusive price of ITL 1 130 billion or EUR 583 596 296 was set. This is equivalent to EUR 32,4 million per kilometre.

In September 2001 the council decided to modify the route of the railway and make almost the whole line run underground.

On 19 October 2001, when the deadline for the submission of tenders expired, only the group headed by Ansaldo and including Breda and Astaldi Necso had submitted a tender with these technical and financial specifications.

On 7 March 2002 the tender was examined and the price quoted was EUR 583 million.

At the meeting on 16 December 2002 the town council approved the financial plan for the underground, set a new contract price of EUR 562 million and decided to substantially modify the route, reducing it to a length of 13,7 km, with 18 stations. Brescia Mobilità (formerly ASM) was instructed to draw up the contract with the group which had submitted the tender.

On the basis of the council's decision the average cost per kilometre of carrying out the project thus rose from the EUR 32,4 million specified in the call to tender to EUR 41 million, an increase of more than 26,5 %.

The contract is to be concluded with the group headed by Ansaldo in the middle of February.

Does the Commission not consider that the substantial modification to the project specified in the call to tender and the agreement of a new price between the entity awarding the contract and the contractor (entailing an increase of 26,5 % per kilometre) before conclusion of the contract infringes legislation on the awarding of public works contracts in accordance with the procedures laid down in the call to tender and hence means that the conditions for fair competition within the Community have been undermined, thereby unlawfully favouring the only group taking part in the tendering procedure, since other potential competitors were unable to submit tenders?

Furthermore, does the Commission not consider that, since the contract is to be drawn up very soon, it is essential that the competent Italian authorities should be informed as a matter of urgency about this anomaly, so that they can clarify the situation as soon as possible?

(1) Restricted tendering procedure (Legislative Decree No 158 of 17 March 1995, amended by Legislative Decree No 525 of 25 November 1999).

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(3 February 2003)

On the basis of the information currently at its disposal, the Commission is not in a position to judge whether the procedures followed by the Brescia Mobilità contracting entity in awarding a public works contract to build the underground light railway in Brescia constitute an infringement of Community law on public works contracts.

At any rate, and given that the Honourable Member has indicated that the contract in question is to be concluded in the very near future, the Commission will ask the Italian authorities without delay for all the information it requires to assess whether the award procedures at issue are compatible with Community law. If, once this information has been examined, it should transpire that the procedures followed are incompatible with the applicable Community legislation, the Commission will not hesitate to draw the appropriate conclusions under the terms of the EC Treaty.