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Aanbesteding alsnog in het hele land gestaakt
Thursday, 17 November 2022
Stichting IMN has taken action to suspend the tender procedure for vehicle recovery agreements for the contract period 2023 - 2026 throughout the country. This was triggered by the decisions of the Appeals Committee in relation to the appeals lodged by eighteen recovery companies. The Committee's decisions were published on 4 November 2022.
Breakdown on the A9 at Ouderkerk aan de Amstel on 19 October at 6.59 a.m.; moved shortly after to the Abcoude Car Pool area by Bergnet (photo credit: road inspector CM).
In the first instance, Stichting IMN had decided to suspend the tender procedure solely in districts in which the winning tenderer had submitted a bid with a value of more than 550 points. That was the case in 161 districts. In the 54 other districts, a preliminary award decision had been made in favour of the tenderer with the best bid.
The Appeals Committee believed that Stichting IMN was wrong to do this. The Committee did, though, believe that Stichting IMN had good reasons to suspend the tender procedure. However, in the eyes of the Committee the procedure should have been suspended in all districts. The Committee formulated its standpoint in this respect as follows:
"The fact that Stichting IMN decided to refrain from awarding contracts is understandable in itself and the Appeals Committee is of the opinion that there were sufficient grounds to do so; however, to avoid the charge of having acted arbitrarily, Stichting IMN ought to have suspended the procedure in all districts."
All participants in the tender procedure were notified of the new award decision on 11 November. They have the opportunity of contesting that decision until 1 December (inclusive). They can do this by lodging preliminary relief proceedings with the District Court of The Hague. Where no proceedings of this kind are lodged with the court, the new tender procedure will probably be published in December of this year. If legal action is taken in respect of one or more districts, this will probably be deferred until March 2023.
As there is a risk that the tender procedure will not have been completed before that date, Stichting IMN has put a proposal to all contract parties, suggesting that the Vehicle Recovery Agreement 2019 - 2022 be extended for a period of six months.