Statens Vegvesen - the Norwegian Public Roads Administration (NPRA) - has reversed its decision on the contractor for the bridge after second-lowest bidder Skanska raised a legal challenge. The legal wranglings have delayed the completion of the overall road and tunnel project by a year.
The bridge over Bøkfjord is part of upgrading of a 10km stretch of E105 leading to the border with Russia. The 284m-long bridge has an arched main span of 120m.
The contract had originally been awarded to HAK Entreprenør, which submitted to the lowest offer. Skanska Norway objected as it believed that HAK could not document sufficient expertise. Skanska’s objections were upheld in the district court and the signing was delayed. The case was scheduled to be resolved in the Court of Appeal this week but NPRA has chosen to withdraw its appeal and instead decided to award the contract to Skanska Norway, which had the second-lowest tender.
Skanska Norway’s bid was US$16.3m, while HAK’s bid was US$1.4m lower. The overall cost of the project, including roads and tunnelling is US$70m.
NPRA said that it has made a new assessment of the bidders and concluded that HAK Entreprenør did not meet eligibility requirements. HAK had carried out other contracts for NPRA, but nothing of comparable scope or complexity. NPRA said that it has changed its procedures for the documentation submitted by contractors.
The plan had been to start construction work started in autumn last year and finish in 2016. The project is now being delayed by a year to 2017.
