The Tender Commission (TK) for the concession procedure of the Podgorica and Tivat airports has completed its part and handed over the decision to the Ministry of Transport (MoT), led by Maja Vukićević. The Ministry must now prepare a report on the concession process for the Government, which will decide whether to grant the concession to one of the bidders or to develop the airports itself.
The TK ranked two bidders: Incheon International Airport Corporation (IIAC) and Corporación América Airports (CAAP). Incheon was ranked first.
Some TK members raised concerns about the evaluation process, with most expecting appeals or lawsuits, primarily from CAAP. Due to this, the Ministry will not prepare the report before July 25, and this deadline may be delayed further because of the expected CAAP appeal. The appeal process could delay the Government’s final decision on the concession until at least September.
According to the Concessions Law in effect when the tender was issued in 2019, bidders have 15 days to file appeals to the TC, which must then decide within 30 days. An appeal suspends all further concession activities until the appeal is resolved.
The Luxembourg-American consortium (CAAP) announced on June 13 its intention to appeal, arguing that the TC should not have re-evaluated the technical proposals twice. Initially, Incheon did not pass the technical evaluation, which meant their financial offer could not be opened. After the IFC consultant intervened, the TC re-evaluated both proposals, allowing Incheon to proceed to the next phase and giving CAAP a higher technical score than before.
CAAP claims that the second technical evaluation and subsequent financial evaluation were unlawful. They argue that Incheon’s financial offer should not have been considered since they failed to meet the technical score threshold in the first evaluation. CAAP alleges the TC changed its initial scoring under pressure, awarding Incheon 81.69 points in the second evaluation.
CAAP emphasizes that the same TC members evaluated the same documents twice, which is legally unacceptable, and that the Concessions Law does not allow repeated evaluations. They conclude that the TC, intended as an independent expert body, lost its autonomy in this case.
The concession tender process has been ongoing since November 2019.
