Eskom unfairly shifted the goalposts in multi-billion rand nuclear deal: Court
The losing bidder in a R5 billion tender to replace six steam generators at Eskom’s Koeberg nuclear plant‚ on Wednesday won its challenge in the Supreme Court of Appeal. Westinghouse lost the contract to France’s Areva‚ even though its bid was cheaper.Eskom said awarded the tender to Areva because of "strategic considerations". These included that Areva was the original manufacturer of the Koeberg equipment and had more experience than Westinghouse‚ the court heard in argument.But Westinghouse argued that these were not part of the original bid criteria.The appeal court’s Judge CH Lewis found that the evaluation criteria was not set out in the invitation to bid‚ and the award was therefore unlawful and unfair.“Application to review and set aside the Bid Tender Committee decision of 12 August 2014 succeeds with the costs of three counsel‚” the judgment stated.“The matter is remitted to Eskom Holdings for reconsideration in terms of … the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act.”Areva has already started the work‚ with a deadline of 2018. It was not immediately clear what the impact of the judgment will be on the project...
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