Gerecht in eerste aanleg van Curaçao, 13-10-2017, ECLI:NL:OGEAC:2017:152, KG 83933/2017
Gerecht in eerste aanleg van Curaçao, 13-10-2017, ECLI:NL:OGEAC:2017:152, KG 83933/2017
Gegevens
- Instantie
- Gerecht in eerste aanleg van Curaçao
- Datum uitspraak
- 13 oktober 2017
- Datum publicatie
- 19 oktober 2017
- ECLI
- ECLI:NL:OGEAC:2017:152
- Zaaknummer
- KG 83933/2017
Inhoudsindicatie
aanbesteding nutsbedrijf, gelijkheidsbeginsel, transparantiebeginsel, motivering afwijzing, inhoudelijke beoordeling, klachtplicht over procedure
Uitspraak
GERECHT IN EERSTE AANLEG VAN CURAÇAO
VONNIS IN KORT GEDING
In de zaak van:
de besloten vennootschap
DYNAF CARIBBEAN B.V.,
gevestigd op Curaçao,
de vennootschap naar Nederlands recht
BREDENOORD B.V.,
gevestigd te Apeldoorn, Nederland,
eisers,
gemachtigde: mr. J.A.M. Burgers,
--tegen--
de naamloze vennootschap
KOMPANIA DI PRODUKSHON DI AWA I ELEKTRICIDAD DI KORSOU (KAE) N.V.,
gevestigd op Curaçao,
gedaagde,
gemachtigde: mr. T.E.M. Matroos.
Partijen zullen hierna Dynaf c.s. (eisers gezamenlijk), Dynaf, Bredenoord en Aqualectra genoemd worden.
1 Verloop van de procedure
Het verloop van de procedure blijkt uit:
- het verzoekschrift met producties, binnen gekomen op 6 oktober 2017;
- de producties van Aqualectra;
- de akte eisvermeerdering en de aanvullende producties van Dynaf c.s.;
- de mondelinge behandeling van 11 oktober 2017;
- de door beide partijen overgelegde pleitnotities.
Vonnis is bepaald op heden.
2 De feiten
Aqualectra is onder andere producent van elektriciteit.
In een ‘Request for Proposal’ (hierna: RFP) heeft Aqualectra onder anderen Dynaf c.s. uitgenodigd om offerte te doen voor de levering van een tijdelijke krachtcentrale met een capaciteit van 10 MW voor een periode van in eerste instantie negen maanden.
De RFP luidt, voor zover van belang, als volgt:
In order to guarantee the supply of the maximum demand till the operational date of thenew diesel power plant, Aqualectra is requesting you to bid for a 10 MW temporarypower plant for a period of 9 months, with the possibility for extension with an additionalthree months.
Aqualectra will provide the following:
[...]
The contractor is responsible for:
[...]
The project shall:
• Guarantee availability of supply of 10 MW for at least 95% of the time between08:00 and 24:00 hours (normal operation);
• Power supply may be requested between 24:00 and 08:00 hours, but this mayhave a different tariff and a different guaranteed amount of power;
• Power factor range for the supply shall be between 0.8 and 0.95 Inductive;
• Unit sizes may range between 800 kW and 2000 kW;
• Voltage at connection point is 12 kV +/- 5%;
• Power frequency is at 50Hz +/- 1%;
• The short circuit level at connection point 3 phase <300 MVA;
• Pricing shall be for a fixed capacity charge per month per MW for the 16 hours ofnormal operation between 08:00 and 24:00 hours;
• 
Full operational date shall be latest by October 22nd, 2017.
Bids will be evaluated on:
• Capacity charge fee;
• Eventual additional fees;
• Delivery time of the project (lead time till operation);
• Fuel consumption of the plant;
• Lube oil consumption of the plant;
• Noise Level of the plant;
• Exhaust gas emission of the plant;
• Reliability of the plant;
• Availability of the plant;
• Auxiliary power consumption of the plant;
• Water consumption of the plant.
Tijdens een bijeenkomst op 27 september 2017 in aanwezigheid van een notaris heeft Dynaf c.s. haar offerte ingediend. De offerte bestaat uit een brief van Dynaf en Bredenoord van zes pagina’s en uit een Annex 1, die de technische specificatie bevat. Deze annex beslaat 16 pagina’s en bevat allerlei bepalingen alsook de algemene voorwaarden die van toepassing worden verklaard. De brief bevat onder meer de volgende passage:
Bredenoord will lead the total installation work with the support of Dynaf, The operations andmaintenance will also be led by Bredenoord and will consist of a team of personnel from Bredenoordand Dynaf. The interconnection of the temporary power plant will be done by Bredenoord in closecooperation with Aqualectra. Overall project management and coordination will be done by Dynaf.
[...]
For more detailed information please see Annex 1.
[...]
Price, Warrantees. Term Price: [...]
• Requested option: Fixed Capacity Charge for 112 hours a week plus a MWh price foradditional hours.
o Capacity Charge: 212,640.-USD per month (fixed)o Operational fee per additional MWh produced:12,86 USD/MWh
[...]Planning
28 September 2017 - Transport to Curacao, if confirmation preferred bidder is received.
21 0 0ctober2017 - Arrival on Curacao
21 0 0ctober2017 - Installation, testing and start operation, assuming equipment is on site
the 21st, latest the 22 before 8 am.
This planning is subject to final negotiations.
Tijdens de bijeenkomst van 27 september 2017 bleken ook twee andere bieders aanwezig: Aggreko en SoEnergy. Het bod van Dynaf c.s. werd als laagste aangemerkt, met een prijsverschil van ongeveer 40% ten opzichte van het bod van Aggreko.
Op vragen van Aqualectra heeft Dynaf c.s. per mail van 28 september 2017 geantwoord. De mail met de vragen en antwoorden luidt als volgt (voor de duidelijkheid geeft het Gerecht de antwoorden cursief weer):
In your writing we have added the answers to your questions.
* Could you please confirm that in your offer (according to the request), the capacity charge is fixed per month at 212.640 USD per 10 MW, without any MWh charges and with a month being defined as 30 days?Yes capacity charge is fixed without extra charge per MWhr. Based on a production of 160MWhr per day (16hrs)
* Could you please clarify why your offer excludes one engineer/operator/maintenance and repair per shift, with two shifts per day?
This is a fault in the quotation. It was meant that Bredenoord deliver one and Dynaf deliver one engineer (2 in total in shifts of 12 hrs to cover 24 hrs/day operators onsite. A team of additional engineers will assist in case of maintenance and repair
* Could you please clarify why in the general conditions you specify that the price is in Euros (art 4.1), while we explicitly requested a fixed price in USD?
The terms & conditions are a Standard template which describe the payment in Euro. This is not right in this case and Aqua electra will be charged in USD as requested
* Could you please clarify why the general conditions (art 7) states that the lessee is responsible for inspection of oil level, noise, cooling water inspection, etc.?
As mentioned before these are Standard terms and conditions and not valid in this project. The onsite crew of operators and maintenance engineers are responsible for the oil, coolant and all necessary inspection.
Per brief van 2 oktober 2017 heeft Aqualectra aan Dynaf c.s. laten weten dat de keuze niet op haar offerte is gevallen.
Onder andere per brief van haar advocaat van 3 oktober 2017 heeft Dynaf c.s. gevraagd om een toelichting op de beslissing van Aqualectra.
Bij brief van 6 oktober 2017 heeft Aqualectra de volgende toelichting aan Dynaf c.s. verstrekt, weergegeven voor zover van belang:
Reference is made to your letter of October 3, 2017, sent by you on behalf of your clients, DynafCaribbean B.V. ("Dynaf") and Bredenoord B.V. ("Bredenoord"). In said letter you requested further expianation on how Aqualectra evaluated Dynaf's bid. On behalf of Aqualectra I hereby inform youas follows.
Note that Dynaf was selected as one of four parties to receive a Request for Proposal ("RFP") asAqualectra considers Dynaf to be a professional party and one of the experts in this field of business,capable to make a competitive and well documented bid on short notice. In the RFP therequirements for a bid regarding a 10 MW temporary power plant, as well as the bidding processitself, were outlined. In its RFP, Aqualectra furthermore made it very clear that, although theproposed price was considered an important element, a bidder should most certainly take intoaccount all other requirements in the RFP. Inter alia timely delivery of the plant and clarity ondocumentation were considered important elements.
The points that namely lead to the dismissal of Dynaf's bid are the following:
1. In contrary to the RFP, page 7/16 of Dynaf's bid states that the responsibility for providing oneengineer to execute the daily operations, maintenance and repair was allocated at the expenseof Aqualectra. Moreover, the bid was based on one engineer working a 12 hour shift, whereasthe RFP clearly mentions a 16 hour normal operation day. A 16 hour operation, would meanhiring approximately six (6) engineers to operate the plant seven days a week, taking intoaccount shift changes, vacation, days off and sick leave. Allocating these costs to Aqualectrawould in our opinion accrue to at least USD 25,000.- per month In additional costs, which costswere considered in our evaluation.
2. According to Dynaf's bid the equipment would arrive in Curacao on October 21, 2017. It wouldtake approximately two (2) weeks for the equipment to go through customs, and to beinstalled and commissioned. The estimated full operational date would therefore be November5, 2017 as oppose to the requested (latest) date of October 22, 2017, as per the RFP.
3. Dynaf failed to provide a calculation as to the auxiliary power consumption of the plant.
4. Dynaf also failed to provide a calculation as to the water consumption of the plant.
5. Lastly, the general conditions of Dynaf contradict the bid (proposal). According to the general conditions of Dynaf attached to the bid (proposal), Aqualectra would be responsible for operating the plant, the maintenance of the plant and the dally inspection of the units before operations. In the bid (proposal) the aforementioned was stated to be the responsibility of the bidder. The Terms and conditions also introduce a "Transit period" which is not clear on whether or not there is a rental charge for Aqualectra for this period. Since it is introduced, Aqualectra assumes it common business practice that the rental charge is also valid for the two transit periods, when the transit period is introduced. The additional costs following from the aforementioned would cause the capacity fee to accrue to more than USD 31,000 per month. When this was pointed out to Dynaf it informed Aqualectra that "the general conditions are generic [this does not seem to follow from the submitted version] and do not apply for this project", therewith actually changing its bid (proposal). This was however no longer possible at that time as the bid (proposal) was already formally submitted.
3 Het geschil
Dynaf c.s. vorderen in kort geding, na eiswijziging, het volgende, samengevat weergegeven, Aqualectra:
-
te bevelen enige uit de onderhavige aanbesteding voortgevloeide en met derden aangegane overeenkomst ongedaan te maken door deze op te zeggen of te beëindigen;
-
te verbieden om aan een ander dan Dynaf c.s. te gunnen, althans te verbieden om aan een ander dan Dynaf c.s. te gunnen tot drie dagen nadat aan het hierna volgende is voldaan en Dynaf c.s. binnen die termijn niet een nieuw kort geding is begonnen tegen de nieuwe gunningsbeslissing;
-
te bevelen om Dynaf c.s. volledige inzage te geven in de door SoEnergy en Aggreko uitgebrachte biedingen, Dynaf c.s. volledige inzage te geven in de evaluatie van de biedingen, onder andere door middel van terbeschikkingstelling van de evaluatiematrix, de aanbestedingsprocedure te vervolgen met passeren van de afwijzingsgronden als vermeld in de brief van Aqualectra van 6 oktober 2017 en de uiteindelijke gunningsbeslissing schriftelijk te motiveren en daarvan afschrift aan Dynaf c.s. te geven;
een en ander op straffe van een dwangsom.
Aqualectra heeft gemotiveerd verweer gevoerd.