In the dispute over the twelve state-owned test centers in Berlin, the public procurement tribunal declared the contract with the Munich company 21DX to be ineffective. The RBB reported on Thursday. The Senate Health Administration confirmed the decision of the procurement chamber on request.
According to the report, the continuation of the contract was already prohibited from January 1, 2022. However, 21DX continues to operate the test centers because the legal dispute has not yet been concluded, it said.
“The allocation for the operation of the corona test centers commissioned by the previous Senate is currently being examined in the health administration. Transparency is important to us,” said a spokeswoman for the Tagesspiegel. Regardless of this, because of the Omikron wave, testing must be guaranteed until further notice. “That is why we have appealed against the decision of the public procurement tribunal. We are waiting for the court’s decision,” she said.
The decision of the chamber goes back to complaints from inferior competitors who objected to the award of the multi-million dollar contract. At the center of the dispute is the accusation that 21DX was involved in the preparation of the order documents and thus had a competitive advantage in the bidding process.
21DX was only founded in September 2020
The objections are not new. The company was only founded in September 2020, just a few weeks later it had the first double-digit million order from the country in its pocket – despite some competition from Berlin. At first, the award took place without a tender to 21DX, later there was a tender, which, however, was stopped in May 2021 due to the allegations by the awarding authority.
[Omikron in Berlin: Jeden Morgen ab 6 Uhr berichten Chefredakteur Lorenz Maroldt und sein Team im Tagesspiegel-Newsletter Checkpoint über die aktuellsten Entwicklungen.]
Order now for free
Nevertheless, under the old Senator Dilek Kalayci (SPD), the Senate Health Administration repeatedly concluded interim contracts with 21DX in order to ensure the operation of the test centers.
After checkpoint research, the health administration maintained close contacts with the Munich company. On Monday, the Tagesspiegel newsletter reported from internal documents that revealed a familiar tone among those involved. At the same time, 21DX was pushing for a quick deal as early as November 2020, as there was also increasing demand from the private sector.
Unfortunate: The need for PCR tests is particularly high because of Omikron
For the new Senator for Health Ulrike Gote (Greens), the decision of the public procurement tribunal is unfavorable: Because of the Omikron wave, the number of infections in Berlin is higher than ever.
The demand for PCR tests is correspondingly high as a result of positive rapid test results or red warnings in the Corona app – but these are only free in the state’s own test centers. Therefore, there are currently long queues. Gote also wants to expand the possibilities to private providers, but this has not yet been implemented.
