Prosecutors from DNA Bacău have opened an in rem file and are checking the award procedure for the over-5-billion-lei design-and-build contract for the Bacău–Piatra Neamț Express Road. Romania’s National Anticorruption Directorate confirmed to Economedia, as carried by PS News: “We confirm it is an in rem case; checks are under way; it is indeed about the tender.” DNA has not named suspects or defendants.

The tender, run by the National Road Investment Company (CNIR), covers roughly 51 kilometres of high-speed road linking Piatra Neamț to Moldova Motorway A7. In December 2025 CNIR named as winner the consortium led by Danlin XXL, with a bid of about 5.17 billion lei excluding VAT. The Precon Transilvania-led bid, about 4.57 billion lei excluding VAT, was nearly 600 million lei lower.

Precon and a UMB-led consortium were excluded. CNIR treated Precon’s bid as apparently abnormally low (about 67.5% of the estimated minimum) and cited a mismatch between the technical and financial offers over the cost of 27-metre beams for a bridge over county road DJ 159. Precon said the price covered on-site prefabrication of the 27 m beams and purchase of 40 m beams from a supplier.

After challenges, the Bucharest Court of Appeal ordered Precon’s bid re-evaluated; on 1 October 2026 it finally dismissed Danlin XXL’s complaint against a CNSC decision requiring CNIR to continue that re-evaluation. CNIR spokesperson Alexandru Lancuzov said the procedure is ongoing and that Precon’s offer “is being re-evaluated under the CAB decision of 1.10.2026,” without detailing bids before completion. The court did not name a winner; award remains with CNIR.

The backdrop includes other controversies around bidders: in January 2026 DNA Bacău searched Bacău County Council over a county-road modernisation contract signed with Danlin XXL. The express-road checks remain, for now, at the in rem stage focused on the tender procedure.

Image: A1 motorway, Arad beltway (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0).

Sources consulted: DNA checks Bacău–Piatra Neamț Express Road tender - PS News; Official: DNA checks Express Road tender - Economedia.