Cotonou Port: SOPEF ET FILS’ appeal rejected by ARMP
An offer from SOPEF ET FILS, which was 63.39 million FCFA excluding taxes lower than the amount selected for provisional award, has been excluded from a computer market at the Autonomous Port of Cotonou. The ARMP rejected the company’s appeal and ordered the continuation of the procedure.
Decision No. 2026-088, issued on August 14, 2026, and published by the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority on September 17, concerns the acquisition, deployment, and migration to the latest stable version of JD Edwards 9.2 tools.
The Autonomous Port of Cotonou launched national tender No. 005/2026/PAC/DG/DMP/SPMP/DPMP/SAP on March 31, 2026. SOPEF ET FILS submitted an offer on June 5 of 522.5 million FCFA excluding taxes, which amounts to 616.55 million FCFA including all taxes.
The provisional award report selected the consortium CONSULTECH/BWORKSHOP for a corrected amount of 585.8898 million FCFA excluding taxes, or 691.349964 million FCFA including taxes, with an execution period of twelve months. The difference between the two amounts excluding taxes is 63.3898 million FCFA.
SOPEF ET FILS was informed of the rejection of its offer on July 31. The Port criticized the company for providing a publisher’s authorization that was not written in French and was not accompanied by the authorization from the authorized distributor as required in the tender documents.
The company filed a request for reconsideration on August 3. The Autonomous Port of Cotonou rejected it the following day. SOPEF ET FILS then appealed to the ARMP on August 6, arguing that its offer was economically more advantageous and that the contested documents could be clarified.
The Dispute Resolution Commission declared the appeal admissible but unfounded. It determined that the required authorization was a mandatory qualification document and that its non-compliance led to the elimination of the offer. According to the ARMP, accepting this document in its current state would have violated the principle of equal treatment of candidates.
Consequently, the ARMP upheld the rejection of SOPEF ET FILS and ordered the continuation of the procurement process. At this stage, the contract remains provisionally awarded to the consortium CONSULTECH/BWORKSHOP for 585.8898 million FCFA excluding taxes.
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