Arnhem-based Willemsen-De Koning would be the best provider, but things turned out differently. It is quite common for the outcome of a tender in student transport to be brought before the court. Since April 1, 2013, there is even an independent and impartial one Commission of Procurement Experts, to whom a complaint about a tender can be submitted. It can then draw up a non-binding advice. The Committee endeavors to contribute to solutions by handling complaints quickly, carefully and with a low threshold, with the result that complaints no longer need to be submitted to the court. This does not mean that the Commission is a blockade to call in the preliminary relief judge.

to the judge

The Willemsen-De Koning company believes that the municipality of Valkenswaard has wrongly excluded it from providing student transport in that municipality. In summary proceedings, last Friday at the court in Den Bosch, the taxi company therefore demanded that the decision be reversed. On closer inspection, the amount for which Willemsen-De Koning wanted to carry out the transport turned out to be far above the Valkenswaard budget, which was estimated at a maximum of 580.000 euros. Valkenswaard therefore decided to exclude the Arnhem taxi company from tendering and to award the contract to a competitor, Noot Personenvervoer.

The Commission of Tendering Experts examines whether it can play a mediating role or issues non-binding advice to the parties on how the rules should be applied in the specific case.

unacceptable excess

In order to arrange the transport of about 115 Valkenswaard pupils to schools in the region for the coming years, Valkenswaard also followed a tendering procedure for this job, as usual. Initially, it seemed that Willemsen-De Koning, based in Arnhem, would come out as the best provider. According to the reporting in the AD and Eindhovens Dagblad, the municipality's lawyer, Mathijs Mutsaers, contested the lecture. The municipality's lawyer, Mathijs Mutsaers, contested that lecture. 

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"The municipality has not done anything that is in violation of the tendering rules. The amount for which Willemsen-De Koning has subscribed was far above the available budget. The rates charged by the company would lead to an unacceptable overrun of that budget and that is not desired.”

re-tendering

In 2019, the municipality of Weert had to re-tender a tender for the transport of pupils in Horn as a result of a court ruling on the tender for the transport of primary school students to and from gym accommodations. Taxi Horn, the loser of the tender, argued that the municipalities were not allowed to provide resources but that it should have assumed that all municipalities would separately assess the student transport in their municipalities.

boost

However, last week there was also a big boost for the Arnhem company Willemsen-De Koning. To their great surprise, taxi and coach company TCR from Raalte will not be allowed to transport students from their own municipality for the next four years. Competitor Willemsen de Koning from Arnhem has won the European tender.

Also read: Fair view of taxi and healthcare transport tendering

Student transport
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