Under pressure from the French industrialist, the Belgian Council of State had suspended the choice of SNCB for this major contract at more than 3 billion euros which had been won by the Spanish CAF. A new decision will be made at the end of July.
It left for a tour. According to the RTBF, the Belgian federal minister of mobility indicated that the SNCB board of directors (the Belgian SNCF) will meet on July 23 to allocate the call for tenders for the production of 600 new conventional trains, half of the operator’s fleet. A major contract estimated at 3.4 billion euros maximum.
What to offer a new chance to Alstom to win the bet. Recall that initially, the SNCB had chosen to negotiate exclusively with the Spanish CAF For this order. A choice harshly disputed by French. Alstom was indeed convinced of being the favorite, in particular thanks to the map of local production and a better-minding offer of more than 100 million euros. The boss of Alstom Belgium, Bernard Belvaux, then denounced “the shocking decision” of the public railway company.
“How can we promote a more expensive offer without differentiating the overall note and with an unfavorable impact on our production site in Bruges and on the entire Belgian rail industry?”, He asked.
Appeal
The French industrialist then activated all political levers to question this decision and had seized the Belgian Council of State By filing an appeal. An appeal accepted since the call for tenders was suspended in April. The highest administrative authority in the country considered that the transparency criterion made compulsory by public procurement legislation has not been respected and that the method used by the assessment of offers is not understandable.
In this case, Alstom benefited from the support of the Belgian government. Jean-Luc Crucke, the Minister of Mobility said That he did not criticize the SNCB for having chosen CAF, but believes that if the tender had included in the specifications a provision taking into account the carbon footprint of the construction of the trains, the decision would have been different.
Recall that CAF also won a contract against Alstom for Alstom 150 classic trains For Moroccan railways (almost 3 billion euros). Alstom nevertheless won that for 18 TGV. In France, CAF was also chosen to provide new intercity trains (called Oxygen) for the Bordeaux-Marseille, Paris-Toulouse and Paris-Clermont Ferrand lines.