据7月17日Neftegaz. RU. 索非亚报道，保加利亚的最高行政法院裁定已对该国天然气电网运营商Bulgartrangaz提出的上诉作出裁决，该公司将沙特阿拉伯Arkad工程公司重新任命为设计和经营投标的中标人的决定。保加利亚国内天然气基础设施的扩建，是该国处理土耳其输气管道输送天然气所必需的。

法院在7月11日的一项裁决中表示，Bulgartrangaz的论点不足以撤销竞争保护委员会(CPC)的裁决。

本月早些时候,监管机构阻止该公司决定放弃作为Arkad工程承包商的决定, 支持在投标书中排名第二的投标人——包括意大利博纳蒂（Bonatti）、德国公司Max Streicher的意大利子公司保加利亚Luxembourg-registered Completions Development Sàrl与俄罗斯管道制造商TMK。

今年6月，Bulgartrangaz表示，尽管几经延期，但该公司没有提供法律要求的所有文件，仍寻求修改合同草案，这将违反公开招标的条款。

与此同时，该公司准备提供原价31.1%的折扣，这促使决定最终改变。

这导致Arkad向负责公共采购纠纷裁决的监管机构CPC提交了正式投诉。该机构表示，Bulgartrangaz的决定是非法的，因为它不符合公司修改其投标裁决决定所需的法律要求。

Bulgartrangaz还单方面强制要求在最后期限前签署合同，同时在最后期限到期前与排名第二的竞标者进行谈判，这也是违法的。此外，排名第二的竞标者不应被允许在作出投标决定后改变其报价。

既然法院确认了监管机构的裁决，Bulgartrangaz将不得不恢复与Arkad的谈判，这可能会进一步推迟开工。

一些分析人士已经对保加利亚能否按时完成该项目提出了质疑，计划明年年初开始通过土耳其与塞尔维亚边境的管道进行运输，到2020年底将达到满负荷状态。

王佳晶 摘译自 Neftegaz. RU.

原文如下：

Bulgarian court rules to back regulator on gas grid capacity expansion contract

Bulgaria’s Supreme Administrative Court has ruled against the appeal by the country’s gas grid operation Bulgartransgaz, which sought to overturn the competition regulator’s decision to re-instate Saudi Arabian Arkad Engineering as the winner in the tender to design and build the expansion of Bulgaria’s domestic gas infrastructure, needed in order for the country to handle the transiting gas from the Turkish Stream pipeline.

The court said, in a decision dated July 11, that Bulgartransgaz’s arguments were insufficient to rescind the Commission for Protection of Competition’s (CPC) ruling.

Earlier this month, the regulator blocked the company’s decision to drop Arkad Engineering as the contractor, in favour of the 2nd-placed bidder in the tender – a consortium including Italy’s Bonatti, the Italian subsidiary of German firm Max Streicher and Luxembourg-registered Completions Development Sàrl, which Bulgarian media linked to Russian pipe manufacturer TMK.

In June, Bulgartransgaz said that the Saudi firm did not provide all the paperwork required by law, despite several postponements, and sought changes to the draft contract, which would have breached the terms of the public tender.

In the meantime, the other candidate told Bulgartransgaz that it was prepared to offer a 31.1 % discount on the price it originally offered, which prompted the company to change its decision, Bulgartransgaz said.

This drew an official complaint from Arkad to the CPC, the regulatory body tasked with ruling on public procurement disputes, which said that Bulgartransgaz’s decision was unlawful because it did not meet the legal requirements necessary for the company to modify its tender award decision.

Bulgartransgaz also acted unlawfully in its unilateral imposition of a deadline to sign the contract and, simultaneously, conducting negotiations with the second-placed bidder before that deadline expired. Furthermore, the second-placed candidate should not have been allowed to change its price offer after the tender decision was made, CPC said.

Now that the court confirmed the regulator’s ruling, Bulgartransgaz will have to resume talks with Arkad, which is likely to further delay the start of construction.

Some analysts have already questioned whether Bulgaria will manage to complete the project on time, with deliveries through Turkish Stream at the border with Serbia slated to begin at the start of next year and reach full capacity by the end of 2020.