Filenews 30 July 2025 -by Vasos Vasilliou
The Ministry of Interior blames the Legal Service for the fact that the Public Warning System (PWS), through which citizens could be informed about the evacuation of communities threatened by the recent Limassol fire, has not yet worked.
The nailing of the Legal Service comes through an announcement by the Ministry of the Interior, which responded to criticism as to the way citizens are informed in cases of emergency and it is known that many have indicated that instead of operating a modernized information system for the residents of the communities, the bells rang, something that refers to the last century.
In addition to the above shift of responsibility (for the non-functioning of the system), through the announcement of the Ministry of the Interior, the issue of what the Legal Service considers to be an issue of "security and defense concerning the essential security interests of the Republic" is indirectly raised. However, from the result (two deaths, destruction of an area of more than 104 square kilometers, damages of tens of millions of euros (etc.) everyone can draw their own conclusions.
But what does the Ministry of Interior say about the Public Warning System – PWS?
The ministry says that the bids for the procurement of the Early Warning of the Population system had been submitted through an open tender, which had been announced in 2022, were cancelled in May 2024 after appeals submitted to the Tender Review Authority.
This was followed by a communication between the Civil Defence Force and the Legal Service in order to investigate the possibility of considering this as a security and defence issue that concerns the essential security interests of the Republic and for which a different and shorter procedure is foreseen. The response of the Legal Service was negative.
In other words, the Ministry indicates that because the Civil Defence considered that the procurement of the system was related to security issues, it contacted the Legal Service in order to investigate whether the normal bidding process could be bypassed by another procedure, in order to be able to acquire the system sooner. However, as it emerges from the announcement, the response of the Legal Service was negative, so the process of acquiring the system dragged on over time.
In its announcement, the ministry also states that (following the position expressed by the Legal Service), "the Civil Defense Force, with the aim of limiting as much as possible the possibility of new appeals (bidders) that would cause a longer delay in the completion of the process, called an expert and proceeded to modify and redesign the tender documents.
The new call for proposals for the project was made in December 2024, with a timetable for the submission of bids at the end of February 2025. This was followed by the technical evaluation of the tenders, which was completed on 16 July 2025, and the information of the bidders. The appeal period provided for in the proceedings expires on 3 August 2025.
From the above, it follows that while the tender was announced in the year 2022, we reached the end of February for the new bids to be submitted (due to the fact that the original tender had been cancelled). It is also interesting to note that the evaluation of the tenders lasted four and a half months, while the appeals period expires on August 3. However, the issue will probably not be closed here since, as stated in the ministry's announcement, "if there are no appeals and a new procedure for the cancellation of the tenders, the contract for the implementation of the project will be signed in September 2025, with a horizon of completion of the project in the first half of 2026".
In other words, in the best case scenario, the project will be completed in the first half of 2026, otherwise (if appeals are submitted) citizens will be informed by the bells perhaps even after the year 2026.
It is worth noting that all of the above happened at the moment when, according to the Ministry of Interior, "the implementation of the System was set as a priority by the Government, in the context of the planning for the broader reorganization of the civil protection sector. That is why the timetables of the tender were strictly adhered to".
It is also noted that the provision for the Public Early Warning System is provided for by Directive (EU) 2018/1972 establishing the European Electronic Communications Code (Article 110) and has been transposed into national legislation by Law 24{I)/2022.
