The Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) cancelled the tender for the construction of the Janáček Cultural Centre in Brno for approximately CZK 2.4 billion. Martin Švanda, a spokesman for the office, announced today. The Janáček Cultural Centre is to serve as a large concert hall for the Brno Philharmonic. According to the city’s plans, construction should start this year.
“The Office for the Protection of Competition, in its not-yet-final first-instance decision, cancelled the tender procedure of the Statutory City of Brno and Brno Communications for the construction of the Janáček Cultural Centre due to unreasonable and discriminatory requirements for proving the qualification of suppliers,” Švanda said. An appeal can be lodged against the decision, he added.
The administrative proceedings were initiated by the authority at the request of Gardenline. It found problematic the requirement to submit a reference contract for the construction of a so-called civic amenities building worth at least CZK 1 billion. “At the same time, the contracting authority failed to objectively justify why its contract could not be fulfilled by contractors who have not built a civic amenity building, but can prove their experience in the implementation of other ground structures that have the same material and structural form as the intended cultural centre,” Švanda added.
According to the Office, the city has unreasonably limited the range of contractors who can participate in the tender. It will therefore have to re-advertise the tender.
At the end of January, Brno postponed the deadline for submission of price offers to the beginning of March. The tender for the contractor is a two-round procedure, with four companies that met the qualification requirements emerging as bidders in the first round. In the second round, these bidders are to submit price offers, the competitive price is CZK 2.4 billion.
The construction of the Janáček Cultural Centre is to take three years. The preparation has been going on for many years. The current city officials previously faced criticism from opposition councillors and cultural figures for delaying the construction of the concert hall. The Brno Philharmonic still plays in the Besední dům, where it cannot play concerts with the maximum possible line-up.
The auditorium of the new hall is to hold 1,200 people and will be built in the gap between Veselá and Besední Street. It used to be a car park, but since 2018 there is an underground garage, which was built as the first stage of the construction. However, since the city has not yet been able to follow up on the construction of the garages, they are not being parked in and have been preserved.
Source: CTK
