New litigation in the tender for public transport in Área Metropolitana do Porto

The Seluve bus company has filed a new lawsuit in the Administrative and Fiscal Court (TAF) of Porto regarding the public tender for road transport in the Metropolitan Area of Porto (AMP), claiming a reallocation of the lots of the procedure

According to information available on the judicial portal Citius, a "pre-contractual litigation case" was filed on Friday, October 21, by Sequeira, Lucas, Venturas & C.ª. Lda (Seluve), having AMP as defendant.

The counter-interested parties are the remaining road operators who participated in the public tender of AMP, opened in 2020.

In the procedure, Seluve came in second in lot 2 (North East: Santo Tirso/Valongo/Paredes/Gondomar), behind Nex Continental Holdings, and in lot 5 (South West: Vila Nova de Gaia and Espinho), behind Feirense/Bus On Tour.

Nex Continental Holdings, initially, had also won lot 1 (North Central: Trofa/Maia/Matosinhos), but as the public tender regulations only allow each company to keep one lot, it ended up with lot 2 and Barranquense with lot 1, due to the lot allocation criteria being the greatest distance to the second-placed company.

In lot 1, Nex Continental had been left with the score of 50.40, Barranquense with 48.07 and Barraqueiro/Resende with 46.50, and in lot 2 Nex got 54.05 points and Seluve 50.63.

On October 4, AMP passed the awarding of lot 1 (Trofa/Maia/Matosinhos), allocated to Barranquense, for the grouping of Barraqueiro and Resende, due to flaws in the documentation and the bond of the Alentejo bus company.

In the lawsuit filed in the TAF of Porto, to which Lusa had access, Seluve claims that in the passage of the award of lot 1 from Barranquense to Barraqueiro / Resende, the distance from Nex Continental Holdings to the second classified changed.

"The difference for the competitor classified in that lot [1] in 3rd place, Barraqueiro Transportes, S.A. (Group consisting of Barraqueiro Transportes, S.A. and Resende - Atividades Turísticas, S.A.), is 3.9 values," being higher "than the one in lot 2, in relation to the competitor classified in that lot in 2nd place - precisely, the here Plaintiff [Seluve] -, which is concretely 3.42."

According to the lawsuit, thus, "the necessary reordering of the competitor "Nex Continental Holdings S.L." (ordered by the Jury of the Procedure, simultaneously, in 1st place in lots 1 and 2) to the 1st place in lot 1", Seluve should "consequently, assume the 1st place in lot 2".

The lawsuit filed at the TAF thus requires the "automatic suspensive effect of the awarding act", challenging, once again, the process.