Bond-funded streets: Servicii Comunale Ungheni wins all 4 lots, at 8.44 million lei excluding VAT

The tender for the streets funded by Ungheni’s municipal bonds has one winner on every lot: SRL Servicii Comunale Ungheni, a fully municipally owned company. According to award decision No. 37 of 24 September, published in the procedure’s file on MTender, the company won all 4 lots, with bids totalling 8.44 million lei excluding VAT.

The estimate of 9.61 million lei, published when the tender was launched in August, excluded VAT. The winning bids are 1.17 million lei (12.2%) below it. Including VAT, the four contracts total 10.12 million lei, about 124,000 lei more than the 10 million raised through the bonds. The public documents consulted up to 21 October do not show which source covers the difference.

What each street costs

The awarded prices, excluding VAT, against the tender estimate:

• Națională Street, B.P. Hașdeu – Romană section: 2.87 million lei (estimated at 3.05 million)
• Stamati Street: 2.16 million lei (estimated at 2.61 million)
• M. Eminescu, N. Bălcescu and Livezilor streets (Palace of Culture area) and Solidarității Street: 2.17 million lei (estimated at 2.55 million)
• Bălțeni Street, up to the junction with Stamati Street: 1.24 million lei (estimated at 1.4 million)

The largest gap from the estimate is on Stamati Street, about 448,000 lei (17.1%); the smallest, on Națională Street, about 179,000 lei (5.9%).

The awarded price for each lot, against the tender estimate. Graphic: Triunghi.md. Source: Ungheni Municipal Hall, award decision No. 37 of 24 September (MTender).

Three bidders

By the deadline, 16 September, three companies had bid: SRL Servicii Comunale Ungheni, SA Drumuri-Strășeni and SRL Aedificator. Servicii Comunale Ungheni offered the lowest price on every lot. Drumuri-Strășeni did not bid for Națională Street, and Aedificator’s bid for that lot was declared technically non-compliant because it proposed BA16 asphalt concrete instead of the required MAS16.

Bids were scored on price (80%), additional warranty period (10%) and execution time (10%). On 22 September, the working group asked the winning company for clarifications on its turnover, the certified specialist it proposed and a justification of its price, deemed abnormally low, as well as a separate work schedule per lot: the bid gave an overall deadline of 30 days for all four. The award decision is signed by the working group chaired by Mayor Vitalie Vrabie.

Works from 8 October

Works contracts No. 359–362 were concluded on 5 October. Four mayoral orders, published in the State Register of Local Acts, set the start of the asphalt concrete works on 8 October:

• Stamati Street, for 10 days;
• the streets in the Palace of Culture area and Solidarității Street, 10 days;
• Bălțeni Street, Stamati – Scuterniceni section, 5 days;
• Națională Street, B.P. Hașdeu – Romană section, 5 days.

The orders name Deputy Mayor Nicolae Cevaga as responsible for overseeing the works. As of 21 October, the signed contracts do not yet appear in the procedure’s public MTender data.

The money comes from the 10-million-lei loan approved by the Municipal Council on 27 March, through a bond issue fully subscribed in August, which the municipality repays from its budget, with interest.