DARS will still have the option of picking its first choice for the job, but the decision would most likely fail again in the review procedure. DARS now has 90 days to make a new decision. Meanwhile, the Austrians, who issued the tender for construction at the same time, have already started with construction work on their side of the tunnel.

The Turkish company has the needed experience for the job, and experts say its proposed price of 89 million euros was not unreasonably low. But the low price came after unacceptable interventions with the forming of prices after the offer was already submitted. DARS is convinced that the review has turned into an unnecessary search for formal shortcomings, but will now also seriously consider the offers of the other Slovenian bidders.

Slovenian companies, among them the Gorenjska Gradbena Družba, which was the second cheapest bidder, and the somewhat dearer Kolektor CPG, have entered the race with the help of foreign companies. After ten dry years in the construction industry, the companies reject remarks that Slovenia’s construction sector is not capable of completing such big projects. And the interest of Slovenian companies is all the more greater, as being successful in this tender would open doors for the second rail track project and also other projects. However, that also means that once a decision is made, more appeals can be expected.