Earlier in September the Rīga Municipality terminated the procurement for bridge maintenance without result, as the original tenderers' offers had become much more expensive after the re-tender. An emergency negotiation procedure was launched and a temporary contractor was hired.
Bridges, overpasses, and pedestrian tunnels will be maintained by Rīgas tilti Ltd, the company that has done so for the past 5 years, at least until next year. The contract, worth almost €8.7 million excluding VAT, is for one year. It can be terminated after at least 3 months if the City Council finds a contractor to manage the work for the remainder of the contract - until September 2029 - in a new tender, Riga Executive Director Jānis Lange told Latvian Radio.
The interim contract is more than 5% cheaper than what Rīgas tilti Ltd offered just a few weeks ago. The Council explained that €8.7 million is the maximum the municipality is prepared to pay the operator.
In this procurement, which also includes street maintenance, Riga is divided into four lots. Their management will cost the municipality up to €242 million, excluding VAT, over five years. This is €32 million more than the municipality forecast in spring and summer for all 4 lots.
Riga's Executive Director Jānis Lange said: "We as the contracting authority can only give a rough estimate of the amount of this procurement, we make an assumption, and the exact price is given by the market on its side. Only then can we know the exact amount.
"But I would like to remind you again from my side that this is the theoretically possible maximum amount [€242 million] - nobody is going to pay 210 million or any other amount to a tenderer, [they will pay] only for the actual work done, the actual money spent. Because you have to take into account that about 40% of the whole maintenance budget goes to routine maintenance in winter, which is a huge amount of money.
"The weather has a big, big impact on how much we spend. If it doesn't snow, if the weather is stable, then there are significant savings to be made, and these can be redirected elsewhere - either in the summer, say, for pavement reinforcement, resurfacing or other works."
Compared to the previous contract signed in 2019, in which four companies managed two parts of Rīga - the right and left banks of the Daugava - there will be more street maintenance companies in the coming years, 5 in total and one more with a temporary contract. In addition, to improve competition, Riga has been split into four parts. It is true that the competition has not really been successful, as there was only one candidate for three lots.
The companies told Latvian Radio that the contract conditions are better than they were before. The municipality will monitor the work more strictly, they said.
The Riga City Center Development Association acknowledged that a temporary contract for the maintenance of bridges and overpasses is an acceptable solution that will help to prepare a better quality contract for 5 years. At the same time, the interim solution shows that the Council has not done a good job so far, as it had several years to prepare for the procurement.
The association "City for the People" believes that the contracts are more precise and correct than the previous ones, but is concerned about how the municipality will control the company's work. All information - where the cleaner is located, videos and photos taken - will only be available to the municipality. But residents will only be able to find out about it by writing to the authorities. The city's executive director, Janis Lange, does not think that citizens need this kind of information, but information on the condition of the city's streets could become available to citizens in January. This is similar to the Latvian State Roads website, where you can see the condition of a particular section of the road.
