A Losing Bidder Forced Poland's National Film Culture Centre to Redo Its Museum Exhibition Tender, But the Same Winner Came Out on Top

Standfirst

EC1 Łódź, the cultural institution behind Poland's National Centre of Film Culture, has awarded a PLN 11 036 052 contract to build its "Mechanical Eye" exhibition to New Amsterdam Sp. z o.o., after a rival bidder's formal appeal forced the buyer to annul its first decision and redo the evaluation. The second attempt reached the same result.

Introduction

Building a museum exhibition is not just carpentry and cabling. It is display cases built to precise technical drawings, multimedia stations wired into existing building systems, lighting calibrated to the millimetre, and, in this case, a formal legal fight over how a Polish cultural institution scored the bids in front of it.

EC1 Łódź - Miasto Kultury w Łodzi, the organisation behind Poland's National Centre of Film Culture, ran a tender to build its new "Mechanical Eye" exhibition, exploring the mechanical history of image capture. A losing bidder challenged the result before Poland's National Appeals Chamber, won a partial victory and forced the buyer to start its evaluation over. The outcome, in the end, did not change.

Why This Contract Matters

This is an EU co-financed cultural infrastructure project, funded under Poland's European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate and Environment 2021-2027 programme, specifically supporting the expansion of the National Centre of Film Culture's cultural and educational offering through what the funding documentation calls the "Mechanical Eye stage." That gives a fairly technical fit-out contract genuine public significance as part of a larger, EU backed cultural investment.

The legal dispute woven through this notice is also instructive. A formal challenge that succeeds, even partially and forces a contracting authority to redo its evaluation is a meaningful check on how public bodies score complex, subjective criteria like design quality and this case shows both that check working and its limits: procedural fairness was enforced, but the original commercial outcome held.

Contract Timeline

• Original tender notice referenced by this procedure: 37139-2026
• Appeal filed with the National Appeals Chamber: 9 April 2026
• Appeals Chamber ruling (case KIO 1626/26): 27 May 2026
• Contract concluded: 24 July 2026
• Notice dispatched to the Publications Office: 13 August 2026
• Published in the Official Journal, OJ S 156/2026: 14 August 2026

Contract Overview

EC1 Łódź ran an open procedure under Directive 2014/24/EU for the design, supply, installation and commissioning of the "Mechanical Eye" exhibition, covering display cases, multimedia stations, exhibition furniture, graphic design and visual identity, an exhibition management system and a content management system, all integrated with the venue's existing building infrastructure. Three tenders were received and New Amsterdam Sp. z o.o. was selected, submitting both the lowest priced bid and the ultimate winning offer at PLN 11 036 052.00, against a range running up to PLN 13 224 551.64 for the highest tender.

Before reaching this final result, the process was interrupted. A rival bidder, TDC Polska Sp. z o.o., filed a formal appeal with Poland's National Appeals Chamber challenging the evaluation and the Chamber partially upheld it, ordering EC1 Łódź to annul its original selection and repeat the assessment with fuller justification of its quality scoring. The buyer did so and New Amsterdam was selected again.

Key Contract Details

Project Scope

The contractor must design, supply, install and commission every physical and digital element of the exhibition: display cases and multimedia stations, furniture and arrangement elements across the exhibition and its foyer, lighting connected and calibrated to the venue's existing electrical and low voltage networks and the physical mounting of museum objects in cases, pedestals and displays according to project specifications. The scope also covers the exhibition's full graphic design and visual identity system, coordination with the separate construction contractor where existing arrangement elements need to be adjusted, workshop and as-built documentation and any supplementary design work needed for the exhibition to function.

A distinctive technical requirement ran through the tender itself: bidders had to submit physical evaluation samples alongside their bids, including a fragment of a display case with a glass dome built to a specific technical drawing and a functional graphic concept for a station described as "Digital Camera," part of the Mechanical Eye exhibition, both assessed under the tender's quality criteria. The winning contractor must also deliver and commission an Exhibition Management System and a Content Management System, integrated with the venue's existing building systems and provide a 24 month warranty overall, extended to 36 months for equipment specifically.

About the Contracting Authority

EC1 Łódź – Miasto Kultury w Łodzi is a local authority based in Łódź, active in recreation, culture and religion. EC1 Łódź operates as a major cultural institution housed in a former power station complex and this project forms part of the National Centre of Film Culture's expansion, financed through a co-financing agreement dated 25 April 2024 under Poland's European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate and Environment 2021-2027 programme, specifically its Action 7.1 supporting culture and cultural tourism infrastructure.

About the Organisations Involved

EC1 Łódź - Miasto Kultury w Łodzi

As covered above, EC1 Łódź is the buyer behind this contract, responsible for delivering the EU co-financed Mechanical Eye exhibition as part of the National Centre of Film Culture's broader expansion.

Krajowa Izba Odwoławcza

Poland's National Appeals Chamber, based in Warsaw, is the review body for this contract and the body that heard and partially upheld TDC Polska's formal appeal, ordering EC1 Łódź to annul its original evaluation and redo the assessment with fuller documentation of its quality scoring.

New Amsterdam Sp. z o.o.

New Amsterdam Sp. z o.o., based in Kraków and classified as a small enterprise, is the winning contractor, having submitted both the lowest priced and ultimately highest ranked bid across both rounds of evaluation.

TDC Polska Sp. z o.o.

TDC Polska Sp. z o.o., based in Suchy Las near Poznań, is the unsuccessful tenderer whose formal appeal, filed 9 April 2026, forced EC1 Łódź to annul its original award decision. The appeal challenged the evaluation process itself, the buyer's decision not to reject bids from New Amsterdam and a third tenderer, Trias AVI Sp. z o.o., the selection of the winning offer, the rejection of TDC Polska's own bid and the adequacy of the documentation behind the buyer's quality criteria scoring.

Trias AVI Sp. z o.o.

Trias AVI Sp. z o.o. was the third tenderer in this procurement, named in TDC Polska's appeal as a bid the appellant argued should have been rejected, though the Appeals Chamber's ruling did not uphold that specific claim.

Procurement Analysis

The tender combined a 60 percent price criterion with two quality criteria worth a combined 40 percent, both evaluated through physical or written samples submitted alongside each bid rather than through written proposals alone, a rigorous approach for assessing exhibition fabrication quality and multimedia design concept before any contract is signed. New Amsterdam's win with the lowest of three prices suggests its quality scores were also competitive, since price alone at 60 percent would not guarantee victory without adequate quality performance.

The formal legal challenge is the most significant procedural element of this notice. TDC Polska's appeal was only partially successful: the Appeals Chamber rejected its arguments about specific bids needing rejection, but agreed that EC1 Łódź had not adequately documented the factual basis for the quality scores it awarded across all non-price criteria. That is a meaningful, if narrow, finding, one that speaks to the ongoing challenge public buyers face justifying subjective quality assessments in a way that withstands scrutiny. Ordered to redo its evaluation with better documentation, EC1 Łódź reached an identical result, suggesting the original substantive scoring was sound even if its written justification initially fell short.

Three tenders for a specialised museum fit-out contract of this kind is a reasonable, healthy field and the narrow price range among admissible bids, from roughly PLN 11 million to PLN 13.2 million, suggests all three competitors had a broadly similar view of what the work should cost.

Additional Procurement Facts

• The contract's award value of PLN 11 036 052.00 came in about 2.8 percent above the original PLN 10 732 130.66 estimate, a modest and unremarkable variance.
• The tender required exclusion declarations under the EU's Russia sanctions regulation and Poland's law on countering support for aggression against Ukraine, standard conditions in current Polish public procurement.
• Bidders were required to submit evaluation samples in a mix of electronic and, for one physical sample, in-person formats delivered directly to the buyer's premises.
• Personnel performing installation work must be employed under formal employment contracts under Polish procurement law, rather than other work arrangements.

Market and Industry Perspective

Museum and exhibition fit-out is a specialised niche within the broader construction and multimedia integration market, requiring firms to combine cabinetry and display fabrication skill with software integration and AV systems expertise, exactly the combination tested by this tender's dual sample requirements. The presence of three credible competitors for a contract of this technical complexity points to a reasonably developed specialist market in Poland for this kind of cultural sector work.

Economic Significance

At just over PLN 11 million, this is a modest contract by national infrastructure standards, but it represents a meaningful, EU co-financed investment in expanding Poland's National Centre of Film Culture, adding a purpose built exhibition exploring the mechanical history of image capture to the institution's cultural offering.

Future Procurement Opportunities

As EC1 Łódź continues developing the National Centre of Film Culture under its EU funded expansion programme, further exhibition, fit-out and multimedia integration contracts are a reasonable expectation, offering continued opportunities for specialist firms in this niche.

Opportunities for Suppliers

Exhibition fabrication and multimedia integration firms should note the rigour of this tender's sample based evaluation process as a likely template for future EC1 Łódź procurements and should be prepared to invest meaningfully in physical and conceptual sample submissions to compete credibly on quality criteria of this kind.

What Businesses Should Watch

• Further exhibition and fit-out tenders from EC1 Łódź as its National Centre of Film Culture expansion continues.
• Whether TDC Polska pursues any further legal avenues following the Appeals Chamber's partial ruling.
• Broader use of Poland's European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate and Environment 2021-2027 programme to support cultural sector procurement.

PolandTenders.com Procurement Intelligence

This notice is a genuinely instructive case study in how procurement appeal mechanisms function in practice. A losing bidder's challenge succeeded, in part, in identifying a real procedural gap, insufficient documentation of quality scoring and Poland's National Appeals Chamber enforced a correction. But the correction did not change the substantive outcome, a reminder that procedural fairness and commercial outcome are related but distinct questions and that winning a partial appeal does not guarantee winning the contract.

For contracting authorities, the lesson is straightforward: when quality criteria are assessed through samples or subjective judgment, as they were here, documenting the factual basis for every score awarded is not optional paperwork, it is a legal requirement that can determine whether an award decision survives challenge. For bidders considering an appeal, this case shows that a partial win, even one that forces a contracting authority back to the drawing board, does not automatically translate into a different result.

For suppliers in the exhibition and cultural infrastructure space, the deeper signal is that Polish cultural institutions running EU co-financed projects are applying real rigour to technical and quality evaluation, using physical samples rather than paper proposals alone. Firms competing in this niche should treat sample preparation as seriously as pricing strategy.

Supplier Takeaways

• This tender required physical and written evaluation samples alongside bids, a rigorous but replicable model for future exhibition fit-out competitions.
• A formal legal challenge partially succeeded on documentation grounds but did not change the substantive award outcome, illustrating the limits of procedural appeals.
• The winning bid was both the lowest priced and the highest scoring overall, suggesting strong performance across both price and quality dimensions.
• Contracting authorities using subjective quality criteria must document their scoring justification thoroughly to withstand legal challenge.
• This project's EU co-financing signals continued funding availability for Polish cultural infrastructure expansion.

Key Takeaways

• EC1 Łódź awarded a PLN 11 036 052 contract to build its EU co-financed "Mechanical Eye" exhibition to New Amsterdam Sp. z o.o.
• A rival bidder, TDC Polska, successfully appealed the original award decision, forcing a redo of the evaluation, which reached the same result.
• Award criteria combined 60 percent price with 40 percent quality, assessed through physical and conceptual sample submissions.
• Three tenders were received, with prices ranging from roughly PLN 11 million to PLN 13.2 million.
• The project is financed under Poland's European Funds for Infrastructure, Climate and Environment 2021-2027 programme, supporting the National Centre of Film Culture's expansion.
• The winning bid included subcontracting, though the value and percentage involved are not disclosed.

Conclusion

Behind the routine language of a museum fit-out contract sits a small but genuine test of Poland's public procurement appeal system, one that worked broadly as intended: a legitimate procedural gap was identified and corrected, while the underlying commercial decision, reached on its merits across two rounds of evaluation, held firm. For EC1 Łódź and its National Centre of Film Culture, the result is a contractor now cleared, twice over, to bring the Mechanical Eye exhibition to life.

Source: Tenders Electronic Daily (TED), Contract Award Notice 564089-2026, Official Journal of the European Union, OJ S 156/2026, published on 14 August 2026.