Political
The city of Vienna wanted to give Siemens an order worth millions, according to a judgment of the Vienna Regional Administrative Court, which threw back a contract award to the health association. It is about the purchase of expensive computer tomographs for Vienna’s hospitals.
13.04.2021 07.56
Online since today, 7.56 a.m.
(Update: 9.14 a.m.)
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This was reported by ZiB2 and “profil” (online edition) on Monday evening. The order value is therefore a maximum of EUR 8.5 million. One unsuccessful bidder – Canon Medical Systems – sued because the tender was tailored to Siemens.
“Unobjective and discriminatory”
Specifically, according to the report, the town hall insisted in its tender on specifications that only have devices from Siemens subsidiary Siemens Healthineers: such as water cooling and a 3D camera. According to the judgment, aspects of the tender were “irrelevant and discriminatory”: “Such a procedure contradicts (…) the principles of public procurement law.”
Tender under suspicion
The Vienna Health Association has to repeat a tender for computer tomographs after a court ruling. Because the requirements would only have been tailored to one provider, Siemens. Not only the competition suspects a close relationship between the group and the Viennese SPÖ.
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Allegations rejected
“Neither the city office nor the city council itself were involved in this procurement process. That is the task of the operational management in the Vienna Health Association ”, it said from the office of the City Councilor for Health Peter Hacker (SPÖ) opposite the ZiB2. The health association emphasizes that a new procedure will be initiated taking into account the points of criticism formulated by the competent court. “We strongly reject any suggestion that proceedings could in any way be influenced by party-political considerations.”
The group has long been said to have a close relationship with the Viennese SPÖ, as the opposition has often criticized. City councilors like Brigitte Ederer and Sonja Wehsely worked for the group after their time in politics. The Viennese FPÖ boss Dominik Nepp called for consequences in a broadcast on Tuesday: “After this scandal, we need complete clarification and a special audit of all tenders in the area of the city of Vienna and the outsourced companies that Siemens has been awarded since 2010. “
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