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1. The Forestry Department (FD) launched an open tender in October 2023 for the procurement of three firefighting planes, which were submitted at the end of May 2024, at an estimated cost of €16.0 million. Also, in December 2023 and January 2024, the HR launched two open tenders for the lease of fire-fighting aircraft, one for the lease of aeroplanes and one for the lease of helicopters, at an estimated cost of €19.7 million and €18.4 million respectively.
2. Our Office, within the scope of its responsibilities and on the basis of the problems encountered in the previous corresponding tenders launched by the HR in 2022 (for which we issued Special Report No. HR/01/2022, which is posted on our Office's website), as well as relevant complaints submitted by interested economic operators, submitted to the HR comments on the documents of the above tenders.
The main issue raised was the concern of our Service about the decision of the DG to accept only certification of the above mentioned aircraft and their crew members by the relevant European Agency (EASA) and not by the relevant International Organisation (ICAO), as was the case in previous tenders for the lease of helicopters.
In fact, our Office recommended broadening the terms of the tender in order to ensure broad participation and to increase the likelihood of a successful outcome. The TA did not adopt the above concerns/recommendations of our Service, citing operational reasons as well as a relevant European Regulation. Finally, the above two tenders were unsuccessful, as no valid bids were submitted in the tender for the lease of helicopters and no bids were submitted in the tender for the lease of aeroplanes. What we were concerned about has been confirmed.
3. In March 2024, the HR re-advertised the above tenders for the lease of aircraft, modifying certain conditions, accepting, inter alia, the certification of the aircraft and their crews alternatively by both of the above two organisations, as was our Service's initial observation above. What they first insisted could not be done, finally could. However, they only theoretically adopted our recommendation, as they wrongly gave weight (advantage) to certification by the European Agency EASA, so that ultimately bidders with other certification would not have a significant chance of success. Finally, although five bids were submitted for the tender for the lease of helicopters, the tender was cancelled in May 2024 by the competent Tender Board on the recommendation of the DG, as all five bids were considered invalid due to non-compliance with the tender documents. As regards the tender for the lease of aeroplanes, only one tender was submitted, which was awarded in May 2024 by the competent Tender Board on the recommendation of the ITD for a total amount of €25.8 million, which is on average 33.6% higher than the cost estimate. To date, no other new tender for the lease of firefighting helicopters has been launched.
4. Thus, as can be seen from the above, none of our Service's substantive recommendations were taken into account from the outset by the Forest Department (except for certain corrections made to the documents on minor points, which we had pointed out) and therefore our Service's interventions, within the scope of our responsibilities, did not affect the development and outcome of the above tenders. On the contrary, if our Service's recommendations had been followed from the outset, the chances would, in our view, have greatly increased that the State would have secured the required fire-fighting aircraft in a more timely manner and before the start of the high-risk summer season.
5. In addition to the above, in our Special Report No. TD/01/2021, issued by our Service in November 2021 (which is posted on our Service's website), we noted, inter alia, that the State has shown negligence in the matter of reinforcing the Republic of Cyprus with aerial fire-fighting assets, with the result that to date it has neither the necessary means nor the required personnel and the needs are covered by purchasing services at a very high cost. Consequently, we have mentioned that these needs are not being met in the most cost-effective and efficient way. In view of the foregoing, we recommended that the Director of the DG take action, as soon as possible, to forward a Proposal to the Council of Ministers, with a view to taking measures, based on the recommendations of the experts in a number of reports prepared over the years on the subject, with planning and a defined timetable, for the efficient operation of the Flight Equipment Unit of the DG and the upgrading of the safety of operational flights.
(AF/GC)
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