Seven Lithuanian and foreign companies enrolled in the tendering procedure for building three military sites in Šiauliai town and Šilalė and Vilnius regions by the method of public-private partnership (PPP). Four companies have been invited to take part in the following stage after the candidates’ qualification assessment.
The four companies have been invited to submit their primary tenders which will be undergoing evaluation until the end of January 2020. Then the next stage of procurement, negotiations, will begin.
Negotiations with the candidate will be carried out through 2019–2020 and the partnership contract between the Ministry of National Defence and the investor(s) is planned to be signed in the end of 2020.
“The invitation to tender for private partners seeks to attract not only the strongest Lithuanian enterprises but also real estate developers and investors from abroad. It is a strategic MoD project we have undertaken to strengthen Lithuania’s deterrence and defence and to develop capabilities and conditions for both, Lithuanian and our allies’ forces,” Vice Minister of National Defence Giedrimas Jeglinskas says.
The Ministry of National Defence opened the tendering procedure for private partners for building three military sites and providing public services in Šiauliai town, Šilalė and Vilnius regions in March earlier this year. The project will result in building completely new infrastructure from the ground up for three battalion-sized units of the Lithuanian Armed Forces until 2023, the three bases will accommodate approximately 3 thousand soldiers. Duke Margiris Infantry Battalion of the Motorised Infantry Brigade Griffin will be based in the town of Šiauliai; Pajūris town of Šilalė region will host Brigadier General Motiejus Pečiulionis Artillery Battalion of the MIB Griffin; and Duke Vaidotas Mechanised Infantry Battalion of the Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf will be based in Rokantiškės village in Vilnius region. All the three military bases will have barracks, canteens, welfare, sports, medical, equipment maintenance facilities, and other services a military infrastructure requires.
Property obligations of the state amount to approximately EUR 164 million. The partnership contracts will be signed for the period of 15 years, until 2035; roughly two years and a half will be allowed for developing infrastructure, and the investors will have it under their supervision for the remaining roughly 12.5 years. Private entities will be investing their own financial resources as part of the PPP projects into the infrastructure generated for the state for military functions and will take on the risks arising from construction works and operation of the new infrastructure.
It was decided to implement the new military infrastructure development projects through PPP in order to avail not only of the capacity of the private sector to execute several large-scale projects at the same time, but also with regard to the fact that the National Defence System required large investment over the next 2-3 years.
The new military infrastructure is developed as a priority activity on the Government of the Republic of Lithuania Programme for the National Defence System aimed at developing the Lithuanian Armed Forces – increasing Lithuania’s combat capabilities, ensuring physical infrastructure for permanently deploying the increased combat capabilities of the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
The Ministry of Defence presented the procurement documents of the projects for potential investors at two conferences-public consultations.
All information concerning the PP projects implemented by the Ministry of National Defence is available via the official MoD website at https://kam.lt/en/defence_ppp.html and the Central Project Management Agency PI website at www.ppplietuva.lt
Related image, credit: Sgt Spc Ieva Budzeikaitė
