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Prague canceled the selection of a company for the completion of the headquarters of the EUSPA space agency

by AI | 13.Aug 2024 | Europe in brief AI

According to the agreement, EUSPA is to move to the new premises in the long-constructed building in 2026 from its current headquarters in Holešovice.

Prague, view across the Vltava River to Prague Castle. Photo: ČTK Connect/Olga Patáková

Prague – Prague canceled the selection of the construction company PORR in the tender for the completion of the Nová Palmovka building in Prague 8 to house the European Union Agency for the Space Program (EUSPA). The original resolution on the selection of the contractor was annulled today by the councilors due to the necessary review of the objections that arrived for the tender. According to the agreement, EUSPA is to move to its new headquarters in the building, which has been under construction for years, in 2026 from its current location in Holešovice.

The building in Palmovka began construction in 2014 by Prague 8, which was supposed to house the town hall along with a shopping center. The work was interrupted a year later due to various disputes and has been standing still since then. After long negotiations, the building was taken over by the city council from Prague 8 in 2021, which then considered placing the headquarters of the rescue service there. In the end, an agreement was reached with the state and EUSPA, whose current headquarters in Holešovice are no longer sufficient in terms of capacity.

In April, the councilors decided on the result of the tender for the completion of the building, in which the company PORR won with a price of 2.62 billion crowns. According to a document approved today, objections to the decision arrived, leading the councilors to cancel the selection. “The objections again contained doubts about the compliance with the conditions of participation by the selected contractor, the authenticity and veracity of the information submitted by the selected contractor, and also a demand for the direct exclusion of the selected contractor,” stated the document approved today. Councilor Zdeněk Kovářík stated that the situation is a consequence of the construction law. “It’s an inconvenience, but we can’t do anything about it; the Chamber of Deputies would have to significantly simplify the public procurement law to prevent such wordplay,” he said.

EUSPA moved to Prague from Brussels on September 6, 2012, under the name European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA). It includes, among other things, the management of EU space programs’ operations, including current satellite and navigation projects such as Galileo, EGNOS, and Copernicus. (August 12)