The installation of the anti-drone shield in five critical infrastructures of the Republic of Cyprus is postponed until 2025.
This system, deemed necessary based on new international data in the military industry, was supposed to be installed and operational by the end of the current year (2024).
However, the company that won the bid for the relevant competition requested an extension to fulfill its obligations to the Cyprus Police, which is the contracting authority in this case.
The request of the said corporate entity, which was heard, is directly related to military operations in the Middle East and especially Israel’s military intervention.
The information we have comes from a reliable police source who spoke to Phileleftheros yesterday, responding to the newspaper’s inquiry.
We asked for further information, but we were informed that it is not possible to provide more details. All documents of the competition preceding the assignment of the project have been classified as confidential (10/2021) due to the sensitivity of the matter.
According to secure information from Phileleftheros, the critical infrastructure protection system from unmanned aerial vehicles (anti-drone) will be installed at (1) the Presidential Palace, (2) the Central Prisons, (3) the Police Headquarters, as well as at the airports (4,5) of Larnaca and Paphos.
Our information indicates that, based on the contract signed between the contracting authority and the company that won the competition, there will also be five mobile units aimed at preventing unmanned aerial vehicles from approaching significant building installations.
Background:
The entire project has been under consideration by the competent authorities of the Republic of Cyprus since 2021.
Four bids were submitted in the context of the relevant competition. Subsequently, and according to official information received by Phileleftheros from the Cyprus Police, they were presented to the evaluation committee for study and the preparation of a relevant report, which was submitted to the Ministry of Justice and Public Order’s bid council.
The decision to award the project to the successful bidder was made on September 22, 2021. One day later, the results were announced to the companies that submitted bids.
On 11/10/2021, a company participating in the competition appealed to the Reviewing Authority of Bids, where representatives of relevant Republic services also participate. On 03/06/2022, the said Authority rejected the appeal of the complaining company and confirmed the decision of the evaluation committee. Finally, the contract with the successful company was signed on 16/06/2022.
For this particular competition, an official complaint was filed with the Auditor General in the summer of 2022 by one of the bidders.
The complaint to the aforementioned Republic Service alleged, among other things, that two experts from the company that won the competition do not have the required qualifications or experience, based on the terms of the public offer.
Special mention was made of one of the two experts. Based on the complaint, the said expert is alleged to have concealed his connection to the company that installed the mobile phone jamming system (which did not work effectively) at the Central Prisons.
Phileleftheros had then called on the winning bidder to address the allegations. A representative who was authorized to speak to us, after being informed, simply stated anonymously that the Reviewing Authority of Bids vindicated their company and that “we trust the Republic of Cyprus.”
The issue of the anti-drone shield returned to the forefront in light of recent revelations concerning the Central Prisons during the previous ten days, involving the trafficking of narcotics via unmanned aircraft (drones).
However, there seems to be no solution in sight for the other system intended for the correctional facility, namely the new mobile phone jamming system. The Minister of Transport, in recent statements, said it will be installed within three years.
He attributed the delay to the procedures that need to be followed. However, according to our information, after market research and studying software options for cutting off phone signals, specifications for the system have been prepared. Based on these specifications, the Ministry of Transport is expected to approach specific companies for them to submit their own bids.
In other words, there will not be an open bidding process.
