The Review Authority cancelled the decision because the Foreign Ministry did not first verify whether the two winning companies met the tender’s eligibility conditions. Ministry officials told the Authority that checks would be carried out after the award, just before signing the contract, an approach the Authority rejected. The panel unanimously annulled the award last Friday and ordered the case to be reconsidered. The decision is posted on the Authority’s website.
What the tender covered
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Launch: 20/01/2025 (open procedure; lowest price criterion)
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Deadline: 21/02/2025; Opening: 24/02/2025
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Evaluation: outsourced to a private consultant, who proposed:
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Armenia: BLS International Services (BLS) at €1.90 per visa
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Japan: VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd (VFS) at €25 per visa
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15 other embassies: award by drawing lots between BLS and VFS, which both offered the same low price, €1.90 per visa, for each mission
(VFS did not bid for Armenia; BLS did not bid for Japan.)
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Adoption: The Foreign Ministry’s Tenders Board unanimously endorsed the consultant’s report on 22/05/2025.
The objections that triggered the annulment
The losing bidder TLS Group S.A., represented by the law firm Haris Kyriakides LLC (counsel: Christos Topouzis), argued the award was flawed due to error, inadequate inquiry, and poor reasoning, and that minutes were lacking. They raised three substantive points:
1) Offices in the occupied areas
TLS argued VFS should have been excluded under clause 6.2 of the tender, claiming VF Services (UK) Ltd/VFS Global operates visa offices in the occupied north of Cyprus. They cited VFS’s website, the bid documents, and corporate records showing VF Services (UK) Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of VF Worldwide Holdings Ltd (VFS) (articles of association dated 06/03/2006).
2) Past contract terminations abroad
TLS said both BLS and VFS had experienced serious performance issues in other countries that led to contract termination, and therefore their offers should not have been accepted.
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BLS: Estonia’s Interior Ministry reportedly ended a services contract in July 2023 over non-issuance of e-IDs.
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VFS: Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court reportedly terminated VFS’s visa-services contract in July 2024.
3) Identical, unusually low pricing
TLS noted both winners submitted identical bids of €1.90 per visa for 15 out of 17 embassies, around 90% lower than the tender’s estimated value, and argued the Ministry should have sought robust explanations. Combined with the fact that the envisaged lot draw was not carried out as foreseen, TLS suggested this pointed to possible pre-arrangement between VFS and BLS.
The Authority’s reasoning
“Given all of the above, the Contracting Authority’s decision to accept the offers of VFS and BLS and proceed to evaluate and award to them without first conducting an adequate and, under the circumstances, comprehensive investigation into whether they were entitled to participate was not reasonably permissible and must therefore be annulled.”
Foreign Ministry position
Asked by Politis to comment, specifically on the allegation that an awardee maintains offices in the occupied areas, Foreign Ministry Secretary-General Ambassador Theodora Konstantinidou declined to respond while a separate appeal from another complainant is still pending before the Review Authority. She said the Ministry will issue an official statement once the process is complete.
