Rail Baltica global project Procurement Plan for 2022 is announced, providing an overview of the planned tenders, timeline, with the total planned contract amounts exceeding 2 billion euros.
In 2022, the Rail Baltica project delivery organisations plan to advance with next phases of the already started construction and consolidated material tenders, as well as launch new construction procurements across the three Baltic States. Also, tenders for the Rail Baltica subsystems – electrification (ENE) and control-command and signalling (CCS) design and build – the largest in the EU, design and supervision services for the remaining strategic main line section “Kaunas – Polish Border” will be launched. The plan also includes consolidated supply for noise barriers and fencing, design, and IT architecture development strategy tenders to be launched in 2022.
Rail Baltica Procurement Plan 2022 is available at: https://www.railbaltica.org/procurements/
The Role and Strategic Importance of Rail Baltica is Increasing
“Despite the external challenges, including impact of the Covid-19 pandemics and now the devastating and condemnable war on Ukraine, the Rail Baltica project is advancing. We are progressing with completion of detailed technical designs in the already started 650 km and have launched the design and design supervision services for the „Kaunas – Vilnius” section. With construction works taking place in all three Baltic states, we have also signed the Control-Command and Signalling Engineering and Works Supervision contract that allows to proceed with preparations for the railway subsystems’ design and build procurement. The Rail Baltica Ülemiste joint terminal construction procurement has been launched as well as the Rail Baltica main line in Latvia construction procurement is approaching its second phase. The Procurement Plan with the total estimated contract value exceeding 2bn EUR is to be seen as a strong commitment for the project maturity that is possible with the strong support of the Connecting Europe Facility funds, Finally, we continue applying for additional financing, and extra financing for priority activities in Latvia and Lithuania from the EU Military Mobility allocation of Connecting Europe Facility instrument is received,” told Agnis Driksna, CEO and Chairman of the Board at RB Rail AS.
“Our goal is to build and maintain strong and long-term relations with our strategic partners from the Baltic States and EU, including the Rail Baltica suppliers’ community which are of vital importance not only to successfully reach the ambitious targets, but also to deliver on the expectations for Rail Baltica being much more than just tracks” Driksna added.
Rail Baltica strengthening positions on EU priority projects’ list – guarantee for the procurement participants
“Rail Baltica is a priority for the European Commission and the Baltic states to strengthen the Baltic region’s integration into the European Union, and the rail link from Tallinn to Warsaw is a major missing link in the EU’s transport network. Rail Baltica represents an opportunity to create a new economic corridor in the Baltics, developing also digital synergies. This project was a priority for the European Commission already before 24 February to ensure modal shift from road to rail, to meet the objectives of the European Green deal, and the Sustainable and Smart mobility strategy. The Russian invasion of Ukraine only reaffirms the need to connect the Baltic states to the rest of Europe, even more – the Russian attack has increased the geopolitical relevance of Rail Baltica,” said the coordinator of the North Sea-Baltic TEN-T corridor Catherine Trautmann during the Rail Baltica Procurement Webinar.
“The strong European backing, including through the various funding mechanisms, makes Rail Baltica a very safe project for suppliers and construction companies”, madamme Trautmann adds.
Agile and flexible approach considering the current geopolitical context and challenges
Up to now the Rail Baltica global project is already collaborating with more than 200 Baltic and 50 international partners and has more than 150 active contracts with estimated value over 900 million euro.
“Considering the Covid-19 related challenges, the Rail Baltica project has been managing well with regards to its procurement activities and found improved ways for communication with suppliers. Since the 24 February we are facing yet further challenges related to sanctions and have undertaken thorough analysis with our project implementation partners on supplier restrictions to mitigate project risks and safeguard the investments into the project. For this reason, we have no doubt in our minds that doing the right thing is the right thing to do – it is clear, that due to moral, ethical, and pragmatic project implementation reasons, there is no possibility to do business with Russian and Belarusian companies. However, this further opens opportunities for other companies in the region. Currently, we are considering various further improvements in terms of our practices in three key aspects – procurement, contracting, pricing and cooperation principles. We will provide further information of precise new or improved methods in due course, and I believe we will be able to continue with our procurement activities with the improved procurement methods even through the volatile market conditions,” noted Kristjan Piirsalu, the Chief Procurement Officer of RB Rail AS after his presentation.
“We also expect that our suppliers and future partners are taking steps to seek for alternative supply chains and mitigate price volatility risks, as we need to work together for the common success,” he added.
Rail Baltica Procurement Webinar 2022 took place on 13 April 2022 with participants from the European Commission, the Rail Baltica Joint venture RB Rail AS and the national implementing bodies – Rail Baltic Estonia (Estonia), “Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas” (Latvia) and “LTG Infra” (Lithuania).
The webinar presentations video recording can be viewed here: https://bit.ly/37jAPoP
