Patria to Be Excluded from Portuguese Tender
(Source: Patria; issued Dec. 6, 2004)
On the 19th November of 2004, Patria Vehicles submitted an administrative appeal to the Portuguese Minister of Defence, since the company had been excluded from the armoured wheeled vehicle bidding process on 11th November of 2004 due to late delivery of their Best and Final Offer.
The Portuguese Ministry of Defence has replied that Patria Vehicles' appeal has been rejected due to the late delivery and defects in formalities in their offer.
According to the rules of the tender process, as soon as the last adjustments, desired by the customer, have been made to the offer, the bidding parties are given eight days to prepare their Best and Final Offers. Patria very much regrets that this rule was obviously not followed, as well as the fact that by acting in this manner Patria Vehicles’ excellent and customised solution for the Portuguese Army currently is excluded from the bidding process.
Patria considers that it has the right to become readmitted to the offer proceedings if, as Patria anticipates, offers presented by the other two candidates should not fulfil the requirements set by the Portuguese purchasing regulation or should there appear any needs to modify the scope or technical content from the current specifications.
Patria AMV has been successfully tested in Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Croatia, South Africa and Brazil. It has also raised keen international interest in several European and Asian countries. The next demonstrations of AMV vehicles will take place in Lithuania and Latvia in December 2004.
Patria has already orders for about 800 Patria AMV 8x8 vehicles for Poland and Finland. In November 2004 the Polish Ministry of Defence officially approved AMV vehicles for army use after Polish verification tests. The AMV consequently fulfils all the requirements set by a NATO country. Currently, it is not only a totally new concept but also the only fourth generation armoured modular vehicle already in serial pro-duction on the market.
Patria is an internationally operating Aerospace and Defence Group with significant positions in the Nordic and Baltic Sea countries. Patria's main business areas are armoured wheeled vehicles, mortars, helicopters and aircraft and the life cycle support of these solutions. Patria delivers internationally competitive solutions to global markets through own specialist know-how and partnerships. Patria's owners are the Finnish State and EADS, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company.
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