The State Commission for the Control of Public Procurement Procedures annulled the initial decision after a complaint from Šibenik's Iskra shipyard, costing taxpayers an additional €27,000.
For the second time in several months, the Ministry of the Interior is launching a procurement procedure for two border surveillance vessels, with an estimated value of €5.38 million excluding VAT, after the State Commission for the Control of Public Procurement Procedures annulled the initial selection in late April 2026.
In the first round, the contract was awarded to MG Mehanika from Drenje Brdovečko, but Šibenik's Iskra shipyard contested the technical soundness of that bid. DKOM upheld the appeal, and the annulment cost the Ministry an additional €27,000, the amount it had to reimburse Iskra for the costs of the appeal procedure.
The future vessels are intended for guarding the state border at sea and the external border of the European Union, including police activities within territorial waters and internal maritime waters, as well as participation in search and rescue operations. The supplier must deliver both vessels within a maximum of two years from the signing of the contract.
The hull of neither vessel may exceed 15 meters in length, and the tender documentation requires that a fully equipped vessel, with 50 percent of supplies on board, achieve a maximum speed of at least 30 knots, or 55.56 km/h, and maintain that speed for a minimum of four hours. The sustained service speed under the same conditions must be at least 25 knots, and at that speed, the vessel must be able to cover at least 250 nautical miles, which is approximately 463 kilometers.
The design requirements stipulate safe navigation at a speed of at least 15 knots regardless of wind and wave direction, and propulsion will be provided by two diesel engines. The entire system must function flawlessly in a temperature range from -38 to +35 degrees Celsius.
A key safety requirement is unsinkability: the vessel must remain afloat even when all compartments are flooded. The construction may use steel, aluminum alloy, or composite materials, while all external equipment must be made of stainless steel or aluminum.
The vessel will have accommodation for three crew members and one official, and the deck must have the capacity to transport at least 10 people, which the specifications explicitly refer to as space for migrants. On the port and starboard aft sides of the deck, mounts will be installed for a combat station that can accommodate a machine gun with a caliber between 7.62 mm and 12.7 mm.
