This article explains what a court-ordered reevaluation means for a public contract that has already been awarded and signed.
Court cancels part of the evaluation
The Bucharest Court of Appeal has partly upheld challenges brought by Concelex and Construcții Erbașu against the evaluation of Itinera’s offer for the final section of the Târgu Neamț–Iași–Ungheni motorway. The court annulled the relevant part of the procurement report, the result notices and related acts, but only concerning how Itinera’s offer was assessed. CNIR must reevaluate that offer within 20 days of receiving the decision and issue a new evaluation act before continuing the procedure to establish the ranking. The ruling is definitive, but it does not itself select a different winner.
A signed contract can still face a challenge
Itinera’s association was named the winner in April with an offer worth 3.57 billion lei excluding VAT. Concelex and Construcții Erbașu challenged the award, but the National Council for Solving Complaints rejected their complaints, allowing CNIR to complete the award procedure. CNIR then signed the contract with Itinera in July. The court has now overturned that earlier complaints decision in relation to the evaluation of Itinera’s offer. The sequence shows how Romania’s procurement review system can continue to affect implementation after an award, and even after a contract has been signed.
The ruling affects a strategic cross-border project
The challenged contract covers the 15.5-kilometre section between DN 24 near Iași and the bridge over the Prut at Ungheni. It also includes 5 kilometres of motorway in the Republic of Moldova, described as the country’s first motorway kilometres. The works are planned over 46 months, including 10 months of design and 36 months of construction, with 14 bridges and passages, two tunnels and two junctions. The project is financed through the European Security Action for Europe programme and is intended to support both civil and military mobility between Romania and Moldova.
Third SAFE contract returned for review
This is the third contract signed under SAFE that the Bucharest Court of Appeal has sent back for further evaluation. In September, the court ordered CNIR to reassess the offers for the first two lots of the Suceava–Siret express road, whose contracts had been signed with the Romanian-Ukrainian Far Foundation–Automagistral Pivden–Lincor Trans association. Those contracts had a combined value of 3.72 billion lei excluding VAT. In the A8 case, the renewed assessment will determine the ranking before the procurement process can proceed on the basis of a new evaluation act.
IN NUMBERS
The project gives priority to the connection with the bridge over the Prut: CNIR will award additional points to a contractor undertaking to complete the 2.77-kilometre link from the Golăiești junction to the bridge within 18 months. The court’s decision requires that the offer be assessed again before that procurement outcome can stand.
Reported from economedia.ro, 2026-10-13. The Tender Wire is published by Otnox.
