Brussels, 06 Oct 2004
A further important step in the selection of the Galileo concessionaire has been taken with the Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) delivering the evaluation report of the concession bids to its shareholders, the European Commission and the European Space Agency.
Two consortia submitted tenders on September 1 st bidding for the Galileo concession:
- the Eurely consortium
- the iNavsat consortium
The GJU evaluated the bids against three major criteria: those of business and finance, technical compliance, and thirdly contractual compliance.
The GJU evaluation highlighted the quality of offers presented by both consortia. It confirmed the commercial and financial viability of the system and related set of services.
For the deployment phase the objective of 2/3 private and 1/3 public money set by the Transport Council will be reached.
Due to the fact that for both bids the quality is very similar and the issues of risk allocation and financial matters need further discussion, the competitive dialogue between the GJU and both consortia will continue on the basis of a limited refined tender documentation which will be issued by the GJU with the objective of selecting a preferred candidate by the end of January 2005.
GJU Executive Director Rainer Grohe: "I am satisfied about the quality of the bids. Both bids show clearly that the two consortia are willing to become the concessionaire and both bids also show clearly that the Galileo system is feasible as a PPP project. Both bids are encouraging the GJU to further develop the concession process in order to reach the best value for the public."
e-mail: hans.marchlewski@galileoju.com
Hans Peter Marchlewski, General Counsellor
GALILEO JOINT UNDERTAKING.2 of 2
Rue du Luxembourg, 3
Background:
GALILEO, the European satellite radio navigation programme is global in scope. It will be financed by both public and private funds, given that the growth prospects of the products and services' markets connected with satellite radio navigation are considerable, hence the reason for choosing to manage and operate the system in the form of a concession as part of a public-private partnership.
The concession period for the system covers the deployment phase and the operational phase. The private sector concessionaire will be responsible for managing these phases in compliance with contractual terms to be established with the preferred bidder in 2005, and will be overseen by a public body, the Galileo Supervisory Authority as per Council Regulation 1321/2004 of 12 July 2004.
For more information about Galileo, please visit:
http:///www.galileoju.com
http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/energy_tra nsport/galileo/
http:///www.esa.int/esaNA/index.html
Item source: http:///www.galileoju.com /doc/3794.pdf