Cepik: An unexpected winner

by Aleksander Nowacki

The Central Registry of Drivers and Vehicles (CEPiK) tender was decided last Friday, in favor of Softbank and its subcontractor, Face Technologies of South Africa. The tender committee decision in favor of the underdog that surprised its competitors with a bid at a rock-bottom price has not, however, ended the acrimony surrounding the procedure. Softbank's competitors put into question the winner's ability to come through on its obligations, while people close to the procedure called for an overhaul of the tender system.

"What we have been doing with the IT tenders for the public sector is testing a law that is exactly opposite to Murphy's Law," says Rudolf Borusiewicz, deputy president of the Polish Counties Association (ZPP), which will be one of the system's users. "While Murphy's Law states that if anything can go wrong it will, we have been testing a different proposition: that if something can turn out for the best, then it will. This blind optimism has not got us very far with the ZUS, elections or IACS systems. Let us hope it will work this time." His concerns mirror those of Paweł Prokop, ComArch deputy president, who was responsible for the Kraków-based firm's CEPiK bid.

"We can only hope that the tender commission weighed up all the factors and made sure that the winning bid is realistic," Prokop says. "We hope it will not turn out to be another monstrosity that will undermine the public's confidence in IT projects." He went on to say that recent spectacular failures have been bad for the whole sector, and it would be a shame to see yet more negative publicity for IT firms. This did not prevent him from saying that "it remains to be seen whether the loss of close to zł.100 million has not undermined the tender winner's financial standing to such an extent that it will not be able to have a large team working full steam on the project as of now. How they'll manage it with another big project - namely that for PKO BP - in the pipeline, remains to be seen."

Prokop also echoes earlier accusations that Softbank had failed to consider all the aspects of the project, which would explain the unexpectedly low price it named in its bid.

"All the other bidders had been preparing for the tender for at least a year," he says. "Softbank had never expressed an interest at meetings we'd held with the ministry, until the last moment. It is perhaps natural that those who have more intimate knowledge of the intricacies of the project were able to predict what could go wrong, and so set the price accordingly."

Softbank officials had maintained throughout that the lower price stems from Face Technologies' keenness to enter the European market after its system had been implemented in several African countries, including South Africa and Egypt. That, however, was vehemently denied by a source within the South African firm.

"This is not a dumping price and we did not lower it below costs," the source said. "Unlike some other firms, we are simply spreading the costs of the project between a few clients." He also denied that there would be any problems with servicing the system, as all the technology would be transferred to Softbank, which could also extend and modify the system, should such a requirement arise in the future.

ComputerLand, originally thought a hands-down favorite to win the tender, declined to comment on the decision "until we receive an official letter from the tender committee." The company suffered another unexpected setback last Friday, as the Insurance Guarantee Fund (UFG) contract was won by ABG's bid, which was a third more costly. ABG is said to be closely connected to Gdynia-based Prokom.

Market watchers think ComputerLand protesting against both the Friday decisions is likely scenario.