The media recently reported that the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS) had launched administrative proceedings against the Ministry of Transport concerning a public contract worth billions of Czech crowns for the management of an electronic highway toll system after 2019. The Office was acting on requests from the current operator of the system, Kapsch, as well as businessman Karel Janeček’s Anti-corruption Foundation.
The public tender for the management of the toll system was launched by the Ministry of Transport midway through July of last year. Four bidders competed for the public contract worth almost CZK 30 billion. Aside from Kapsch, those companies were SkyToll from Slovakia, National Toll Payment Services from Hungary and T-Systems Corporation from Germany.
The Office’s investigation has so far followed the rules for a standard procedural review. In contrast, the media coverage of both the contracting authority (the Ministry of Transport) and the Office has been far from typical. In a press release dated November 16, 2017, the Ministry alleged that the Office was acting improperly (see https://www.mdcr.cz/Media/Media-a-tiskove-zpravy/Ministr-dopravy-Dan-Tok-Proverovani-Kapschem-napa). On November 24, 2017, the Office countered with its own press release describing its procedure as perfectly normal and within the boundaries of the law (see https://www.uohs.cz/cs/verejne-zakazky/aktuality-z-verejnych-zakazek/2353-k-tiskovemu-prohlaseni-ministerstva-dopravy.html).