Second Bucharest shops tender postponed

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A second round of tenders for selecting companies to operate duty-free shops at Bucharest's Otopeni International airport scheduled for May 20 2002 has been annulled, Otopeni airport vice-director Mihai Basulescu said

The tender was cancelled after local Romanian company Eastern Duty Free (EDF) was the only bidder, out of seven companies which had showed interest in the tender, Basulescu added. The tender was annulled for the first time last month.

In order to participate in the bid, interested companies had to submit a participation guarantee amounting to $750,000 and a guarantee execution of $4m by the deadline May 13.

As reported by TRW, the first tender was annulled on April 15 after only one, out of the ten companies that had shown interest in that tender, put forward a bid (TRW 25/04/02).

In 1992 EDF Services and Sky Services, two companies registered in Hong Kong, signed a partnership with Bucharest Otopeni International Airport SA (AIBO) and with state carrier Tarom, setting up the EDF Asro and Sky Services (Romania) businesses. Earlier this year, Tarom and AIBO decided to end their association with EDF and the Transport Ministry called for open tenders for the shops. EDF has taken legal action against the Ministry alleging abusive interruption of its contract.