Corvette War: Naval Group and Constanta Shipyard won the tender

By Constantin Radut
The association between the French Naval Group and Shipyard Constanta was announced to have won the contract for the provision of multifunctional corvettes for the Romanian Navy, according to unofficial information.
Romtehnica SA, the company that organized the tender for the four Military Corvettes for the Naval Forces, today announced the association between the French Naval Group and Constanţa Shipyard that it has won the tender for the supply of multifunctional corvettes, according to a document quoted by some of the press to Bucharest.
“We hereby inform you that after finalizing the evaluation process of the final bids submitted in the award procedure for the Multi-Corvette Corvette Supply Agreement, your offer has been declared a winner. (…) Since the procurement is made from public funds, we inform you that the contracting authority intends to make public the total price of the winning bid, “the cited document states.
Naval Group (France), Damen (Netherlands) and Fincantieri (Italy) were competitors in the tender organized by the Romanian state. According to the information, the Naval Group has submitted a bid of 1.2 billion euros, the other deals being 1.25 billion euros (Damen) and 1.34 billion euros (Fincantieri).
The procedure was delayed due to several administrative or judicial proceedings. Thus, at the beginning of 2019, the Ministry of National Defense (MapN) suspended the procedure for the purchase of multifunctional corvettes and informed the Military Prosecutor’s Office that there were “reasonable suspicions about the lawfulness of the procedure”. Meanwhile, the file was sent to the National Anticorruption Direction.
Romania started a program in the beginning of 2018, for which it allocated 1.6 billion euros for the purchase of four multifunctional military corvettes. Instead of negotiating with the builder who can supply the best corvettes, the government chose the tender path. One of the basic conditions for bidding was the winning company to build the four corvettes at a construction site in Romania. That is how the three European companies that have shipyards or partnerships with Romanian shipyards have remained in the final race: Naval Group (France), Damen (Netherlands) and Fincantieri (Italy).
We are waiting for the official confirmation from the Romanian Ministry of Defense.