The EUrely and iNavsat consortia bidding for the Galileo European satellite navigation system operating concession plan to submit an unsolicited joint bid.
The Galileo Joint Undertaking (GJU) organisation was due to select the winner at the end of this month, based on bids already submitted by the two teams.
“The third bid is unrequested. There are a lot of synergies possible. It could result in a better offer,” says EUrely consortium associate, Alcatel executive committee member Olivier Houssin.
A joint bid had been rumoured after the GJU pushed back its selection from the original 1 March deadline. It claimed it postponed the decision because the two proposals were so close that further negotiation was needed. However, consortium sources claimed there had been political interference (Flight International, 15-21 March).
In the event of a further delay the consortia want the GJU to consider the third, joint bid.
The GJU estimates the cost to the public/private partnership of developing and deploying Galileo to be €3.4 billion ($4.4 billion), and expects 1.7 billion users by 2010.
Source: Flight International