- Downtown Bucharest
- +40 745 77 77 75
- contact@infradandb.com
Neither of the two developments below is a tender. Nothing has been published in SEAP. There is no deadline to meet, no documentation to download, no bid bond to arrange. That is precisely why they matter. By the time a Romanian infrastructure tender appears in SEAP, the qualification thresholds are fixed and the clock is running — typically 35 to 50 days to submission for works procedures of this scale. Turnover history cannot be changed in that window. Similar experience cannot be acquired. A consortium partner cannot be found, vetted, and contracted. What can be done in that window is writing, pricing, and assembling documents you already possess. Everything else has to happen before. Two events in the last week tell you what to prepare for. Signal 1: Four road projects cleared the Interministerial Council On Thursday, 27 August 2026, the Interministerial Council for the approval of public investments (Consiliul Interministerial de avizare a investițiilor publice) issued favourable opinions on four road infrastructure projects. The announcement was made publicly by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. The four projects: Project Scope Brașov – Făgăraș motorway 49.3 km of motorway, relieving the existing national road Bucharest – Alexandria motorway High-speed link between the capital and the south of the country DR1 – Vest Expres ~10 km radial road extending Bulevardul Timișoara to the A0 ring motorway at Domnești Sibiu South Bypass Over 21 km of new road, removing transit traffic from the southern part of the city DR1 – Vest Expres carries additional significance beyond its own length. It is the first radial road of the Orbital București programme — a planned network of ten radial roads connecting the city’s major boulevards to the ring road and the motorway network. One project has now cleared its first hurdle. Nine remain behind it. What this approval actually means — and what it does not The Interministerial Council opinion is an administrative milestone, not a procurement event. Two steps remain before anything reaches the market: I cannot give you a reliable estimate of how long step 1 takes. It varies substantially between projects and depends on factors that are not publicly visible from the outside. Anyone quoting you a firm number is guessing. What I can say with confidence is that the sequence itself is fixed, and that the contract values will only become public at step 1 — the Council opinion does not publish them. The practical read For a foreign contractor, four projects of this profile share a predictable qualification structure. Romanian motorway and expressway procedures at this scale routinely require: I want to be careful here: these are patterns observed across recent Romanian road procedures, not the published requirements of these four specific projects, which do not yet exist. Treat them as a planning hypothesis to test your position against, not as criteria to satisfy. The point is that every item on that list takes months to arrange and none of them can be arranged after a notice is published. Signal 2: Bucharest approves a EUR 500 million water and sewerage programme On Friday, 28 August 2026, the General Council of Bucharest (CGMB) approved an addendum to the concession contract between the Municipality of Bucharest and Apa Nova, establishing a new investment programme in water and sewerage infrastructure worth close to EUR 500 million. The scope According to Mayor Ciprian Ciucu, the programme covers interventions across 221 kilometres of water and sewerage networks, in all six districts of Bucharest. Two thirds of the programme is allocated to sewerage alone: The rationale is explicitly climate-driven. Roxana Ionescu, General Director of the Public Services Directorate, stated that changing precipitation patterns require the resizing of sewerage networks and the construction of retention basins where technically and financially feasible. Ciucu referenced recent flooding in the Parcul Carol area as evidence that the existing system no longer copes. The split that matters commercially The programme divides into two components: This distinction is not administrative trivia. It very likely determines which procurement regime applies to each contract, which in turn determines the rules, the remedies, and the timelines you will face. The municipal component would ordinarily fall under classic public procurement; the concessionaire component would ordinarily fall under the sectoral regime applicable to utilities. I say “very likely” and “ordinarily” deliberately. The actual allocation depends on the terms of the addendum, which I have not seen. Before committing resources to either component, confirm the applicable regime for the specific contract you are targeting. The difference affects your standstill periods, your challenge routes, and in some cases whether the procedure is published in SEAP at all. The funding is secured, which is unusual The addendum also includes a water tariff increase of 0.85 lei per cubic metre. Ciucu noted the resulting increase for a household is around 28 lei, and that Bucharest’s tariff remains the second lowest in the country. For a contractor, the tariff mechanism is the most important detail in the entire announcement. It means the programme is funded through a revenue stream rather than through annual budget allocations subject to political revision. Programmes financed this way have materially different cancellation and delay profiles from those dependent on yearly budget lines or on EU fund absorption deadlines. A further detail worth noting Ionescu stated that a specific objective is to coordinate the water and sewerage works with tramway modernisation and district heating works. Read commercially, that points toward bundled or sequenced urban works packages rather than isolated pipe-laying contracts — and toward a premium on contractors who can demonstrate traffic management, utility coordination, and urban site logistics capability, not merely pipeline installation. She also indicated that the current mandatory investment programme is around 66% implemented toward the end of 2026, with remaining projects at an advanced stage of maturity — which is what made a new programme opportune. What to do between now and the tenders The window between a pipeline signal and a published notice is the only period in which your qualification
Submission deadline: 1 October 2026 | Contract notice CN1095815 Administrația Străzilor București (the Bucharest Roads Authority) has launched an open tender procedure for “Design and works execution services for the investment objective «Strengthening/Rehabilitation of Pasajul Victoriei»”. It is one of the largest urban infrastructure procedures currently open in the Romanian capital and, given how it is structured, a contract accessible to only a limited number of economic operators. What is being tendered The contract is a design-and-build contract, awarded as a single lot, with a duration of 28 months. Main CPV code: 45221110-6 – Bridge construction work. The total estimated value is RON 138,101,175.82 excluding VAT, broken down as follows: Component Value (RON, excl. VAT) Construction and assembly works (C+M) 130,898,253.60 Plant and technological equipment (chapter 4.3) 1,650,000.00 Site organisation related costs 1,200,000.00 Design services 3,874,807.61 Technical assistance from the designer 478,114.61 Of the C+M value, RON 888,000.00 excluding VAT is allocated to construction works and installations related to site organisation. One element deserves particular attention: the amount of RON 27,385,221.12 excluding VAT representing miscellaneous and unforeseen costs is not included in the value of the contract being awarded. It is provided for in the general cost estimate (devizul general) and may be accessed later, as needed, through contract amendment under Article 221 of Law no. 98/2016. The technical basis of the procedure is a technical expert report prepared in 2023, establishing the current condition of the overpass. The tender documentation refers to the DALI (feasibility study for intervention works), version 2 as recommended by its author, and the technical proposal must demonstrate point-by-point correspondence with the solutions established in the DALI. The contract is not financed from European Union funds. Award criterion: 40% price, 60% technical component The award is made on the best price-quality ratio. The scoring structure is central to any bidder’s strategy: Evaluation factor Maximum score Offer price 40 Professional experience – Project Manager 10 Professional experience – Design Team Coordinator 5 Professional experience – Railways, Roads and Bridges design engineer 5 Organisation and methodology (4 sub-factors × 5 points) 20 Environmentally friendly plant and equipment 10 Social inclusion component 5 Use of BIM technology 5 Total 100 The price score is awarded proportionally: P(n) = (lowest offered price / price n) × 40. Three practical observations on this grid. First: 60 out of 100 points are technical, and 20 of them — the organisation and methodology factors — are awarded on the quality of the drafting of the technical proposal. The documentation explicitly warns that text copied from the terms of reference without further detail receives the minimum score (1 point out of 5 on each sub-factor). The difference between 4 and 20 points is made in the writing, not in actual technical capability. Second: the 10 points for environmentally friendly plant are won or lost on documents, not on promises. The maximum score requires a minimum of 5 electric or hybrid machines (5 points) and a minimum of 34 EURO 6 tipper trucks or concrete mixer trucks (5 points). Proof is provided through the fixed assets register, lease or loan-for-use agreements, and documents establishing the emission standard. For a bidder that does not already own the fleet, this is a partnering or contracting decision that must be taken early. Third: BIM is worth 5 points, but only at Level 2 — a coordinated model used both in design (including technical detailing) and in execution, updated as construction progresses. BIM in the design phase only is worth 2.5 points. The commitment becomes an integral part of the contract, and failure to honour it may trigger contractual penalties. The social inclusion component offers 5 points for employing three persons with disabilities or persons unemployed for more than 6 months, with proof to be submitted within a maximum of 10 days from notification of the procedure result. Qualification requirements: the real filter This is where it is decided who can bid and who cannot. Economic and financial capacity. The average global turnover for 2023, 2024 and 2025 must be at least RON 276,000,000 — roughly twice the contract value. In addition, the current ratio (current assets / current liabilities) must exceed 1.2 in each of the three years, not on average. The bidder ranked first must also demonstrate access to unencumbered financial resources of at least RON 50,000,000 excluding VAT, dedicated exclusively to this contract, for a period of 8 months from the works commencement order. Similar experience – works. Completion, within the last 5 years, of a similar construction under a contract of the same nature, or a maximum of 2 contracts, with a cumulative value of at least RON 130,000,000 excluding VAT. Similar works are defined as new construction, rehabilitation, modernisation or widening of urban streets, national roads, express roads or motorways, which included at least one bridge, overpass or viaduct. Similar experience – services. Design, within the last 3 years, of a similar construction, or a maximum of 3 contracts, with a cumulative value of at least RON 4,300,000 excluding VAT, for transport infrastructure construction which included at least one bridge, overpass or viaduct. Plant and equipment. The list is substantial: one asphalt plant, two concrete batching plants (supply contracts are accepted), one excavator, two front loaders, two asphalt milling machines, two asphalt pavers, four rollers, 20 tipper trucks, 15 concrete mixer trucks, three mechanical sweepers, three bitumen sprayers, two pneumatic-tyred rollers, two shotcrete machines, one sandblasting unit, and one authorised laboratory of the appropriate grade. Certifications. ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 or equivalent, a requirement associated only with the execution of works. Personnel as a qualification requirement. Health and safety officer (SSM) and quality control officer (CQ) only. The remaining specialists — the project manager, the design team coordinator, the roads and bridges design engineer — are not qualification requirements but evaluation factors, which entirely changes the logic of selecting them. Guarantees, deadlines and contractual conditions The procedure is conducted entirely online, through SEAP (the Romanian electronic public procurement system). All documents
Bucharest’s General Council has just approved the technical-economic documentation (DALI), the technical-economic indicators and the general cost estimate for the consolidation and modernisation of Opera Comică pentru Copii — one of the capital’s most important cultural institutions, on Calea Giuleşti no. 16. For contractors and engineering groups active in Romania, this is a significant upcoming opportunity worth watching. The investment at a glance: Planned scope of works includes structural strengthening (structural walls, columns and beams), full interior and exterior refurbishment and finishes, modernisation of sanitary, heating, electrical, ventilation and HVAC systems, replacement of exterior joinery, upgraded fire-safety and evacuation systems, rooftop photovoltaic panels, and full accessibility works (access ramps, lifts for the auditorium, tactile/visual/audible warning elements and dedicated parking). A project of this scale — combining structural consolidation of a heritage building with technical modernisation — calls for rigorous tender preparation, design coordination and site supervision. This is exactly the kind of complex public-procurement project where experienced local partnership makes the difference. A note on heritage: the main building, housing the performance hall, was built between 1927 and 1929 by architect Horia Creangă (grandson of the writer Ion Creangă). The two “Workers” statues flanking the entrance, by sculptor Ion Jalea, are listed on Bucharest’s historical monuments register. A second wing was added between 1940 and 1945. M Infra Design & Management follows major public-infrastructure and heritage-consolidation tenders across Romania, supporting international contractors with tender management, design coordination and construction supervision.
Romania has just adopted the strategic and financial framework that will govern railway investment for the next five years. For international contractors and engineering groups, this signals a significant pipeline of upcoming tenders — and a market that will need experienced local partners to navigate it. The headline: a five-year plan to rebuild a worn-out network In an extraordinary session on 19 August 2026, the Government of Romania approved the Railway Infrastructure Development Strategy 2026–2030, on the initiative of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure (MTI). The following day, 20 August 2026, the Government approved the Activity and Performance Contract of CFR SA for 2026–2030, unblocking state-budget financing for the national rail infrastructure manager. Together, these two documents form the legal and financial backbone for the coming cycle of railway investment. The strategy updates and continues the previous Railway Infrastructure Development Strategy 2021–2025 and the Transport Infrastructure Investment Programme 2021–2030, and is correlated with Romania’s General Transport Master Plan (GTMP) and the EU’s TEN-T corridors. Why now: the scale of the problem The strategy responds to a network in critical condition after decades of underfinancing: The strategy sets three strategic objectives, with prioritised financing: The financing framework The investment cycle is underpinned by a substantial external-financing programme: Flagship projects already moving Several major projects have advanced to concrete financing and procurement milestones in mid-2026: Brașov–Sighișoara Brașov–Simeria (Rhine–Danube Corridor) Roman–Iași–Frontier — Phase 1: Iași–Frontier electrification Related road and network decisions Alongside rail, the Government has kept up momentum on the wider transport network — including the Satu Mare–Baia Mare express road (approx. RON 5 billion / ~€986 million) and the Suceava–Siret project (over RON 7.4 billion / ~€1.46 billion, part of the TEN-T network) approved earlier in 2026. What this means for contractors and engineering groups A programme of this scale — combining accelerated renewal of thousands of kilometres of track with high-speed corridor modernisation, electrification, tunnels and stations — will generate a steady flow of design, works and supervision tenders over the next five years. Success in the Romanian market depends on more than technical capability: it requires rigorous tender preparation, fluency in national procurement rules (Law 98/2016 and Law 99/2016), design coordination, and construction supervision aligned with both Romanian and EU requirements. This is precisely where an experienced local partner makes the difference between a competitive bid and a missed opportunity. M Infra Design & Management follows major public-infrastructure and railway tenders across Romania, supporting international contractors and engineering groups with tender management, design coordination, technical assistance and construction supervision. If your organisation is considering the Romanian rail market, we can help you assess the pipeline and prepare. Contact: contact@infradandb.com · infradandb.com · Justiției Street no. 45, Sector 4, Bucharest Sources: Romanian Government communiqués (sessions of 18 June, 30 July, 19 and 20 August 2026); Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. RON/EUR conversions are approximate and indicative; please refer to the official BNR exchange rate of the day for exact figures. Figures reflect information available as of late August 2026 and may change as projects progress.
A briefing for international contractors, engineering groups and supervision consultants active in Romania Position as at 22 August 2026 Why this matters now Romania remains one of the largest public works markets in Central and Eastern Europe, driven by EU cohesion funding, the NRRP pipeline and a sustained motorway, rail and hospital programme. For a foreign contractor, the legal framework is not background noise — it determines whether your bid is admissible, how your performance security is structured, and whether price alone can decide the award. Between August 2025 and August 2026 the framework moved on four fronts: thresholds, performance guarantees, green procurement, and EU-level obligations that now bite directly. A fifth item — the wholesale rewrite of EU procurement law — is on the horizon and worth planning for now. 1. New thresholds since 1 January 2026 (and works went down) The European Commission adopted Delegated Regulations (EU) 2025/2150, 2025/2151 and 2025/2152 on 22 October 2025, published in the Official Journal on 23 October 2025. These revise the thresholds in Directives 2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU for the 2026–2027 cycle. They are directly applicable and were transposed into practice in Romania through an ANAP notification, applying to all procedures launched from 1 January 2026. The lei equivalents (all VAT-exclusive, at a conversion rate of 4.9890 RON/EUR): Law 98/2016 — classic public procurement (OJEU publication obligation) Contract type 2026–2027 Previous Direction Works 26,960,556 lei (€5,404,000) 27,334,460 lei Down Supplies & services — central authorities 698,460 lei (€140,000) 705,819 lei Down Supplies & services — sub-central authorities 1,077,624 lei (€216,000) 1,090,812 lei Down Social and other specific services 3,741,750 lei (€750,000) 3,701,850 lei Up Law 99/2016 — utilities Contract type 2026–2027 Previous Supplies & services 2,155,248 lei (€432,000) 2,186,559 lei Works 26,960,556 lei (€5,404,000) 27,334,460 lei Social and other specific services 4,989,000 lei (€1,000,000) 4,935,800 lei Law 100/2016 — works and services concessions: 26,960,556 lei (€5,404,000), down from 27,334,460 lei. Small-lot exemption (both regimes): 399,120 lei (€80,000) for supplies and services; 4,989,000 lei (€1,000,000) for works. What did not change: the national direct-award thresholds under Art. 7(5) of Law 98/2016 remain 270,120 lei for supplies and services and 900,400 lei for works. These are set in lei by domestic statute and are unaffected by the EU biennial revision. Practical read: the works threshold fell slightly, so a marginally larger set of contracts now requires full OJEU publication. If you are pricing a project close to €5.4 million, check which side of the line your estimated value falls on before assuming a simplified procedure. 2. Performance guarantees — the 2024 emergency regime is now confirmed by statute Emergency Ordinance 19/2022 introduced flexibility on performance bonds after a major Romanian insurer lost its authorisation and entered insolvency, leaving contractors holding worthless instruments on live public contracts. GEO 3/2024 (Official Gazette No. 81 of 29 January 2024) extended and refined that regime. The change in the reporting period: Parliament approved GEO 3/2024 through Law No. 77 of 26 May 2026, published in Official Gazette No. 445 of 26 May 2026 and promulgated the same day. What had been an emergency ordinance is now settled primary law. The substance contractors should know: Practical read: if your surety is a Romanian insurer, confirm its ASF authorisation status before financial close, and build the replacement mechanism into your subcontract chain. The law gives you options — but they are exercised at the employer’s request and, for some of them, only by agreement. 3. Green procurement — the standalone law is gone Law 69/2016 on green public procurement was repealed by Art. II of GEO 3/2024, and that repeal is now confirmed by Law 77/2026. The reasoning, set out in the ordinance’s preamble, was that the National Public Procurement Strategy 2023–2027 (approved by GD 554/2023) had identified Law 69/2016 as partly inapplicable, and that environmental requirements belonged inside the main procurement legislation rather than in a parallel statute. Green criteria therefore now reach tenders through: Practical read: do not look for a single green procurement code. Environmental requirements will appear in the tender documentation itself, and their legal basis will vary. Read the caiet de sarcini rather than the statute book. 4. EU obligations that now apply directly Net-Zero Industry Act (Regulation (EU) 2024/1735). The public procurement obligations in Article 25 have applied since 30 December 2025. For procedures covering listed net-zero technologies, contracting authorities must apply minimum environmental sustainability requirements — now specified in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/718 of 20 March 2026 — plus at least one of three additional elements: a social or employment-related special condition, a cybersecurity compliance requirement, or a contractual charge for late delivery. A separate “resilience contribution” applies where the Commission has identified excessive dependence on a single third country for a technology or its main components; in those cases sourcing from the listed country is capped. The Commission published guidance on Articles 25 and 26 on 22 July 2026, responding to questions raised since the obligations became applicable. International Procurement Instrument. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1197 of 19 June 2025 restricted access of Chinese economic operators and Chinese-origin medical devices to EU public procurement of medical devices, under Regulation (EU) 2022/1031. The sector is narrow, but the precedent matters: third-country origin is now an operative eligibility question in EU procurement, not a theoretical one. Russia-related restrictions under Art. 5k of Regulation 833/2014 continue to apply and continue to be extended; ANAP issues notifications as new sanctions packages are adopted. Consortium and subcontractor screening remains a live compliance task on every bid. 5. What is coming: the EU Public Procurement Act The Commission’s 2026 Work Programme announced a Public Procurement Act — the first structural overhaul of EU procurement law since 2014. The Commission published its evaluation of the current directives on 14 October 2025 and ran a public consultation that closed on 26 January 2026. Commentary on a leaked draft indicates the Commission intends to replace Directives 2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU with a single, directly applicable Regulation, covering public contracts,
M Infra Design & Management holds three internationally recognised management-system certifications, confirming our commitment to quality, security and safety across our engineering and technical-consultancy activities (NACE 7112): – ISO 27001:2022 — Information Security Management System, protecting the information, data and documentation we handle across projects.– ISO 20000-1:2018 — Service Management System, supporting a structured, controlled and performance-oriented approach to our professional services.– ISO 45001:2023 — Occupational Health and Safety Management System, reinforcing our commitment to a safe working environment and responsible risk management. All three certifications were issued by CERTMARIN under IMAB accreditation. As we increasingly work with international partners on complex infrastructure and public-procurement projects, information security, clear processes, service management and team safety are essential to how we operate — giving our partners and clients a high level of trust, predictability and professionalism.
M Infra Design & Management is a trusted consultancy firm providing end-to-end solutions for infrastructure development, including civil, industrial, and railway projects.
luni - vineri: 10:00 –
17;00 weekend: închis
© 2025 Infradandb.com. All Rights Reserved.
