Prague 6 cancels cultural center tender over inflated price — new competition to be announced in 2027

The Prague 6 municipal district is cancelling its tender for the construction of a cultural center after the only remaining bid came in nearly 1.5 times over the original budget. According to the district administration's press office, a new competition is planned to be announced in February 2027.

In April 2025, the Prague 6 district assembly launched a competitive dialogue procedure to find the optimal solution for building a cultural center on a designated plot. The process proved difficult: over the course of negotiations, 14 meetings were held, and one of the two competing consortia — a partnership between KONSIT and VW WACHAL — eventually withdrew, having failed to meet the client's requirements within the allotted time.

Price exceeded budget by a third

The sole remaining bidder, Fourth Quadrant, proposed in July 2026 to build the cultural center as part of the development of the fourth quadrant of Wenceslas (Victory) Square — Vítězné náměstí. The bid came to 1,220,886,104 CZK excluding VAT — compared with the project's original estimate of 800 million CZK excluding VAT.

An independent assessment carried out by B.I.R.T. Group confirmed that, since there was effectively no competition in the tender, the quoted price could not be considered consistent with market rates for that location and timeframe.

Why the district decided to scrap it all

Under the Prague City Charter, district leadership is required to manage public property and funds responsibly and economically. Accepting a bid that had not gone through genuine market competition and significantly exceeded the budget would have contradicted this principle. Citing the relevant provision of the Public Procurement Act, the district council recommended that the assembly annul the procedure.

At the same time, the competitive dialogue itself demonstrated that placing the cultural venue in the fourth quadrant of Wenceslas Square is an architecturally and urbanistically sound and feasible solution. The district intends to build on this groundwork when preparing a new, more cost-effective competition.

"Cancelling the tender does not mean halting the cultural center project — it's a necessary step toward achieving better terms. The administration will immediately begin drafting a new procurement concept. The terms will be adjusted to bring the price down. The new competition is expected to be announced in February 2027," said district spokesman Marek Zeman.

Source: prazskypatriot.cz