Exclusive
Status: 01.09.2022 06:00 a.m
The temporarily stopped digital media house has the rbb has cost a good 6.6 million euros so far. Consultants collected about half a million. However, the procurement law may have been circumvented.
Of the rbb apparently violated public procurement law when employing a consultant. On the one hand, the consultant, since he could no longer be commissioned directly, should work as a subcontractor for a rbb active law firm. On the other hand, in connection with his work for the rbb media GmbH, a subsidiary of the broadcaster, have invoiced for services, although at that time it was dated rbb should no longer have been employed without an advertisement.
6.6 million euros so far
Architects, project managers, lawyers, consultants – since 2019 they have all worked for the planned Digital Media House (DMH) des rbb worked and got paid. Until July 18, on this day, the management temporarily stopped the project. So far, the shattered dream of a representative glass and wood palace on Kaiserdamm has already cost 6.6 million euros, explained Jan Schulte-Kellinghaus, who is currently deputizing for the managing director Hagen Brandstätter.
Not all negotiations seem to have been concluded yet and internally there is hope that an amicable agreement can still be reached with one or the other contractual partner. Given the dilapidated substance of the rbb-Television center undisputed. But not for up to 188 million euros – but probably much more modest.
The project was pushed forward by three heads up to the publication of the “Business Insider”: the director Patricia Schlesinger, who has since been terminated without notice, the former head of the directorship and the resigned chairman of the board of directors, Wolf-Dieter Wolf. They would have “ironed off” critics or not taken them seriously.
The media house project should be approached in a modern, fast, efficient and economical way. Not long-winded and flanked by skeptics, as in ARD-Anstalten is often common. To prevent this, the rbb-Top external partners: consultants who understand something about modern management. And found her too.
The advisors come
June 11, 2019: The management of the rbb, Directors and Artistic Director, meet for a special meeting. As a guest, a consultant who will become indispensable for the months and years to come. He doesn’t have a contract yet, but he seems to know his way around. He knows how to approach the project to produce an “optimized schedule”.
As the consulting firm exactly to rbb came is so far controversial. But their representatives seem to have convinced the station’s management: A contract will be drawn up on July 1st – running until March 31st, 2020 for 190,000 euros. A consultant should the Berliner rbb Radically modernize the location and make it sustainable. The project starts. In February 2020, an external law firm will also be hired to deal with legal questions. It’s about “general project structuring and real estate advice”. Hourly rate: 250 euros. Like the law firm rbb came, their representatives did not want to comment on request
April 2020, the consultant has been trained, but apparently not as quickly as expected. The “process development” for the planned rbb-Campus with Europe-wide coverage is not yet complete. But without the consultant this is not possible. Further negotiations are “only to be carried out by him […]. Therefore, the existing contract […] extended for 4 months and the order volume … increased.” This is the draft resolution of the directorship: 90,000 euros additionally.
It won’t be that expensive after all, but at least it will be increased to 274,500 euros. In public procurement law, this extension is still permissible under certain circumstances – such as time pressure. Actually, however, should have been advertised from 214,000 euros. The judiciary of rbb reports concerns. But they are ignored.
And so it goes on: In July 2020, the architectural competition for the new media house will take place. “Gesamtstrategisch” looked after by the consultant whose contract expired again at the end of the month. However, for the upcoming negotiations, coordination with authorities and because of his “extensive experience in the development and implementation of large-scale projects”, he is in favor of the rbb-Lace still “essential”. A real problem now arises in terms of public procurement law. But there seems to be a way out of the situation.
A legal opinion from the consulting firm: Everything is still in the green because of the special circumstances. There is another extension until October 31, 2020: Now you are at a good 336,000 euros – and at the end of the possible, it seems.
The consultants are gone – right?
November 2020: In the dem rbb-Research team and contrasts the documents available, the “absolutely necessary” consultant does not appear for the time being. A further extension, everyone seemed to agree, was not possible. Or is it?
January 14, 2021: The project controller for the digital media house presents the draft for a so-called project book. Who, what, when and where – this book gives an overview of how to proceed. And especially with whom. Also present: the consultant. He is responsible for “strategic advice on location development”. Shortly thereafter, the project book of the rbb– submitted to management, the director and her directors. You notice that the consultant with whom the rbb officially no longer has a contract, continues to work for the construction project. The group decides that he should “fall out at least temporarily”. Apparently it was an editorial error that he appeared in the book.
Present at this meeting: Hagen Brandtäter (currently Managing Director), Jan Schulte-Kellinghaus (currently working for Brandtäter who was on sick leave), Patricia Schlesinger (now terminated without notice), Verena Formen-Mohr (then director), Susann Lange (legal Director), Christoph Augenstein (Production and Operations Director), Christoph Singelnstein (editor-in-chief at the time). But it soon turns out that it wasn’t an editorial error. The consultant is actually still working for the construction project.
A report in 2021 will explain how this came about. In the meantime, the broadcaster has put the construction of its digital media house out to tender and needs “overall strategic consulting services” for the negotiations with the bidders. Again, there are questions of public procurement law. The experts also work through the history of the consultancy contracts.
They state that after the contract with the man expired at the end of October 2020, he “acted as a mere subcontractor to the legal advisor on certain issues”. In concrete terms, this means: Instead of continuing directly for the rbb to work, he was hired by the law firm, which has been responsible for legal questions relating to the project since the beginning of 2020.
This construct raises the suspicion of a prohibited circumvention, says a Berlin procurement law specialist. If it turns out that this consultant should provide the same services for the construction on behalf of the law firm that he can no longer do directly for the due to the lack of tendering rbb was allowed to provide, this could be seen as “passing on” by the contractor. In this case, it can be assumed that the parties involved were working together, the sole purpose of which was to circumvent the law, according to the expert.
The Last Bill
In the summer of this year appears in the rbb an account that causes confusion. It dates from 2021 and goes directly to the directorship. It’s about a “gastro concept” that for the rbb media was created, a wholly owned subsidiary of rbb.
The bill was probably released for payment in 2021 by the head of the artistic director. According to information from rbb research teams and contrasts now have revealed that the consultant was not only for that at that time rbb media, but also for the rbb was active. At a time when he was dated rbb should not have been commissioned or paid for. the rbbManagement did not want to comment on this, referring to the ongoing investigations by the public prosecutor.
The rbb research team consists of René Althammer, Jo Goll, Daniel Laufer and Oliver Noffke. It researches the allegations against the rbb leadership, works independently and is not bound by instructions.
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