DGKV acted for a consortium comprising several of the largest German engineering consultancy companies - CDM Smith Consult GmbH, Fichtner GmbH & Co KG and C&E Consulting und Engineering GmbH (“Consortium”) –  in arbitration proceedings before the Arbitration Court at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce against the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters (“Ministry”). The dispute was related to a procurement contract awarded under the ISPA programme – the EU pre-accession instrument that supported activities in the field of environment and transport. The Ministry contracted the Consortium in 2008 to prepare remediation plans, organize tenders for construction works and exercise engineering supervision in order to ensure the implementation of remedial measures for 18 dumpsites situated in five Regions in Bulgaria – Montana, Rousse, Sevlievo, Silistra, and Sozopol. In 2010 the Ministry terminated the contract at the design phase, alleging low service quality and also refusing to provide full payment for the work delivered by the Consortium.
With an arbitral award from 9th August 2017, the arbitrators ruled that at the time of termination of the procurement contract the Consortium had already delivered approximately half of all required services. Accordingly, the arbitrators decided to partially uphold the original claim awarding to the Consortium a sum exceeding EUR 161,000, representing the remuneration due but unpaid by the Ministry. Furthermore, the Consortium is awarded default interest in accordance with the Bulgarian statutory rules, which shall continue to accrue until final repayment by the Ministry. The arbitral award is final and cannot be appealed.
The DGKV’s team working on the case included Partners Angel Ganev and Violetta Kunze, Senior Associates Dr. Anton Petrov and Elena Ivanova, as well as Associate Simeon Vachev.