Yet again! Again, the city in Vienna comes under fire for an award. Again it is about health equipment in hospitals, again the city bought without tendering. A manufacturer, who therefore did not get a chance, is now busting. He sued the city’s own health association in Vienna. The procedure is illegal. Not only he as an entrepreneur, but also the taxpayer suffered damage, possibly even in the millions.
Michael Decker is the managing director of MR Medical Handels GmbH, which, among other things, manufactures patient monitoring monitors. These are medical devices that are intended to immediately represent a change in the state of health of patients at risk. Among other things, they are used in intensive care units and emergency rooms. The Donaustadt Clinic also needs such surveillance monitors. It therefore signed a contract with Philips Austrag GmbH on August 29, 2021. The purchase of the new monitors costs a total of 4,408,334.14 euros. But: The award to Philips took place in a negotiated procedure without prior notification and thus without competition between the providers.
Other manufacturers like MR Medical Handels GmbH didn’t stand a chance. The Vienna Health Association was also permitted to do this in a specific case without prior tendering. Because the new surveillance monitors would have to be compatible with the rest of the system in the Donaustadt Clinic – specifically with the surveillance centers and transport monitors. Only those from Philips are compatible
Michael Decker objects and has filed a complaint. The existing monitoring centers and transport monitors would have to be replaced soon anyway, if only because of their age (seven to twelve years), and this is exactly what the Vienna Health Association pointed out in its announcement. He actually mentions there that the “control centers” also have to be procured. For Michael Decker it is clear: “There were technical alternatives.”
Decker is now calling for the contract to be terminated and for inspection of the files. “The exact scope of delivery is not yet known to us. We do not yet know the total amount, but we estimate that the costs for the city would have been around 3.3 million euros with our offer. At Philips it is 4.4 million euros. If a competition does not take place, the Vienna Health Association and thus the taxpayer will incur costs of at least 1.1 million. “
This approach is not new. “The same procedure was used to equip the Favoriten Clinic (formerly Kaiser-Franz-Josef-KH), except that the contractor was not Philips but Sanitas.”
The Vienna Health Association has not yet issued a statement to the eXXpress. If it is submitted later, we will publish it to eXXpress.
Already several times this year, award cases by the municipality of Vienna have caused criticism. In spring, for example, the purchase of ultrasound devices for examining pregnant women by the Vienna Health Association (WIGEV) for the Floridsdorf Clinic caused criticism. The seller at the time was GE Health, a subsidiary of the US conglomerate General Electric. The city bought direct from GE with no tendering. A competition could namely not be carried out “for technical reasons” because the GE device was superior. Industry experts described this to “profil” as “absolutely unfounded”: “These systems should definitely have been put out to tender.”
