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City of St. Gallen in Switzerland to re-issue call for tenders for drilling contract

City of St. Gallen in Switzerland to re-issue call for tenders for drilling contract City of St. Gallen, Switzerland (source: flickr/ Hellebardius, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 24 Jan 2012

The Swiss City of St. Gallen is to restart call for tender for drilling contract for the city's geothermal power project following a successful claim by two drilling companies unsuccessful in the earlier tender process.

Following a court decision on the claim of two drilling companies, the city council of the Swiss city of St. Gallen cancels the current tender process for the drilling contract and will start the call for tenders anew.

In the court’s decision following the claim of two drilling companies, the court confirms that certain criteria had not been made public as part of the tender documentation. The claimants correctly claimed that there was not sufficient transparency and the court decided that either the whole tender phase or the whole process for the call of tenders will have to be repeated.

In the tender phase only the successful company and the claimants would have to provide their tenders. The now planned open process requires that all companies will be able to bid again, which will lead to a better competitive situation. This way the city council hopes that there will be more competitive offers. For this process to start, the courts decision will have to be legally confirmed.

If the call for tender processes after plan and there will be no further claims filed, drilling is expected to start after the summer break. The drill pad is then expected to be set up in early summer 2012.

Source: City of St. Gallen via Tiefe Geothermie , more details on the actual court case via Tiefe Geothermie (all in German)