THE PARTICIPANT TENDERERS WERE ACTING IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAW ON COMPETITION

Having examined in its meeting the findings of the conducted investigation and having heard the explanations of the interested parties the Competition Council passed the decision concerning the compliance of the actions by undertakings participating in the boiler-house upgrading tender with the requirements of Article 5 of the Law on Competition. Having regard to the facts and circumstances determined in the course of the investigation the Competition Council concluded that the Law on Competition had not been infringed therefore the proceedings concerning the actions of UAB Axis Industries and UAB Ekostata were terminated.

The Competition Council had initiated the investigation in response to the request of the Lithuanian Business Support Agency (LBSA) to investigate the actions of the undertakings concerned in the tender called by the Oncology Institute of the Vilnius University concerning the upgrading of the boiler-houses (heating systems) including the provision of the services. The project implemented through the tender procedure with a total value in excess of LTL 810,000 was funded by the European Union structural funds therefore the LBSA was directly responsible for the efficient and transparent use of the funds.

Four tenderers participated in the joint tender procedure conducted in April 2005, and the Public procurement Tender Commission of the Oncology Institute awarded the tender to UAB Katra (in 2006 renamed into UAB Axis Industries) that offered the lowest price. The investigation was conducted in the view of the suspicion that the successful participant with another tenderer, the company Ekostata could have committed actions prohibited by the Law on Competition – submition of the coordinated prices to the tender.