Khanty-Mansiysk. Ernst&Young and Denton Wilde Sapte (UK) will be the consultants of UTair Aviation JSC for determining the winner of the open tender for the supply of five turboprop regional jets. The consultants have been engaged for legal and financial examination of the bids.

Legal support will be provided by the Moscow and London offices of the international law firm Denton Wilde Sapte. The contract provides for legal assessment and analysis of documents submitted by the bidders, consulting services with regard to choosing an optimal procedure for the deal, the preparation and approval of the contract with the winner, and, if necessary, coordination of work and correspondence with all bidders.

For its part, Ernst&Young will conduct comparative analysis of the prices of planes offered by the bidders, taking into account the estimate for the effect of VAT and customs duties on the final cost of the aircraft.

Additionally, the consultant will conduct a comparative analysis of the results of the operation of different types of planes for the proposed network of regional routes. On the basis of the analysis and the final parameters of the bids, Ernst&Young will provide the airline with a report containing recommendations on choosing the type of aircraft and reasons for making this choice.

“The tender we are conducting is the first serious experience in working with foreign suppliers, and therefore, we can’t do without assistance from leading international consultants,” UTair General Director Andrey Martirosov pointed out at a meeting of the Tender Commission on February 28.

The contracts with the consultants were signed this week.

The date of the next meeting of the commission will be discussed with the consultants involved.

As reported earlier, UTair announced an open tender for supplying (leasing) of five turboprop regional planes with 35-60 passenger seats each on October 25, 2003.

The bidders are the Canadian company Bombardier (offering DASH-8 planes), the French company ATR (ATR-42), the Irish leasing company Magellan Air (ATR-42), the Kharkov State Aircraft-Building Company (An-140) and the joint venture International Aviation Project-140.