Another dodgy case of meandering within the law was uncovered this week at state-owned rail company ZSR, which got three separate companies to repair a stretch of line, instead of just one, which would have meant an open tender should have been called.
The company operates the rail infrastructure in Slovakia and ordered the reconstruction of a stretch between Bratislava and the town of Dunajska Streda. The order is worth almost EUR 11 million in total, but when split into three parts below the EUR 4.84 million threshold, no tender was required.
The company defended its actions with the argument that no law had been broken and that everything was in order, even though splitting orders like this in public procurement is prohibited. Law-bending is an altogether different sport, though.