Green light for the new SBB maintenance facility at Arbedo-Castione

On 20 December 2022, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) issued a public invitation to tender for a construction works contract in connection with the project «NSIF - Construction of the building, including preparatory work». On 23 May 2024, the SBB announced the awarding of the contract to the «Consorzio Officine Ticinesi» OFT. An excluded consortium lodged an appeal with the Federal Administrative Court (FAC) against the award requesting that the ruling and its own exclusion from the award procedure be quashed, that the documents be transferred back to the contracting authority and that its tender be re-evaluated after reintroduction into the proceedings. The appellant undertakings essentially challenged the lawfulness of their exclusion from the award procedure.

Justified exclusion
Determining that the facts were properly examined at the tender evaluation stage, the FAC upholds the finding of the contracting authority that the appellants had not complied with the prohibition of subcontracting explicitly foreseen in the invitation to tender and the specifications for the metal construction works. The FAC concludes that the failure to comply with a significant requirement regarding the invitation to tender justifies the appellants’ exclusion from the award procedure. The FAC therefore rejects the appeal.

This judgment may be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court.