Galway businessman Declan Ganley's Rivada Networks company has been disqualified from the bidding process to build a $7 billion mobile network in Mexico.
The company’s proposal was deemed “non-solvent” for not submitting a bid bond mandated by the tender rules.
Mr Ganley told The Irish Times last week he believed he had been "stitched up" by being squeezed out of the process, and was preparing to initiate legal action.
He alleged a mystery hijacker on a motorcycle attempted to steal his consortium’s bidding documents for the Red Compartida mobile network project, as they were being delivered to authorities in Mexico city on October 17th ahead of a submission deadline.
Mr Ganley said the “bid boxes” stolen were empty for security reasons, however, and that his bid was delivered separately and on time.
In a statement on Monday, Ezequiel Gil Huerta, head of the tender convening entity of Mexico's Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT), said the documents "should have been included within the technical proposal" submitted.
“Applicable laws and regulations prohibit the negotiation or compensation of substantial deficiencies or omissions in the submitted proposals,” he said. “SCT has the obligation of maintaining equal conditions for all participants.
“Due to the disqualification of Rivada, its economic proposal will not be evaluated.”
4G network
Red Compartida is a project to build a new 4G wholesale network to lessen the influence of multibillionaire Carlos Slim on Mexico's mobile market. The new network would be open to all operators except Mr Slim's America Movil.
Rivada's rival bidder for the project – the Altan consortium comprising Mexican companies Megacable and Axtel – is currently the only bid being assessed, the SCT said.
Altan’s technical proposal was “deemed solvent” as the consortium “demonstrated that it has the legal, administrative, managerial and technical capacities established in the terms and conditions of the tender rules”. Its economic proposal will be evaluated by SCT in the comings days.
If Altan’s economic offer is deemed solvent, the SCT will open its population coverage bid to verify that it complies with the terms and conditions of the tender rules before proceeding to announce the final ruling of the tender.
