What does the court ruling change in the procurement for the Balota tunnel and the Craiova–Caransebeș railway lot?
The award has been cancelled, but no new winner has been appointed
The Bucharest Court of Appeal has overturned the earlier outcome of CFR SA’s tender for lot 3 of the Craiova–Drobeta Turnu Severin–Caransebeș railway modernisation. In June, FCC Construccion had been designated the winner of a contract worth 5,166,618,843 lei excluding VAT. The court accepted a complaint from the Dogus EOOD–Dogus Insaat ve Ticaret–Concelex–YDA Insaat Sanayi ve Ticaret association, annulled the procurement report of 24 June 2026 and related communications, and ordered CFR SA to continue the procedure. The ruling is definitive, but it does not itself award the contract to Dogus.
CFR must reassess Dogus’s qualification evidence
The dispute centres on a qualification requirement concerning AFER authorisations and technical approvals, or equivalent documents issued by competent authorities in other countries. Dogus submitted authorisations and certificates from Turkey, arguing that they permitted the association to carry out railway infrastructure work there and should be recognised as equivalent in Romania. CFR’s evaluation committee rejected the offer as unacceptable, considering the documents insufficient to demonstrate full equivalence, and then selected FCC. The court has now required CFR to reassess Dogus’s offer in line with the judgment, public procurement law and the tender documents, within 15 days of receiving the decision.
The challenge route changes the next stage of competition
Romania’s procurement challenge system allows a disappointed bidder to contest an award first before the National Council for Solving Complaints, known as CNSC, and then before a court. CNSC had rejected Dogus’s complaint and accepted FCC’s intervention in the case. Dogus appealed, and the Bucharest Court of Appeal reached a different conclusion, cancelling the award documents and the acts underpinning them. Dogus had argued that its offer was financially more advantageous and had a higher technical score; those were the challengers’ submissions, not definitive findings that FCC’s offer was defective. CFR must now apply the court’s reasoning during a renewed evaluation.
A complex project remains subject to financing
The tender covers the Igiroasa–Drobeta Turnu Severin section, including the 6.2-kilometre Balota tunnel, two parallel galleries and connecting passages intended for evacuation and emergency response. It also includes railway, bridge, electrification, signalling and station works. The planned contract duration is 60 months and the tender was launched with a suspensive clause, meaning signature depends on financing being secured. CFR received three offers: one from FCC and two from associations led by Dogus and Gülermak. The court decision therefore reopens evaluation without removing the financing condition or resolving the final award.
IN NUMBERS
The ruling prolongs the award process for one of Romania’s most significant railway procurements. Its immediate effect is procedural: CFR SA must reassess Dogus’s offer and proceed according to the judgment, rather than treat the June result as settled.
Reported from economedia.ro, 2026-10-21. The Tender Wire is published by Otnox.
