Link: EU law precludes a national practice by which a candidate excluded from a public procurement procedure may rely, in that candidate’s appeal against the decision to admit the bid of another tenderer, only on the infringement of the principle of equality in the assessment of bids (europa.eu)

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Court of Justice of the European Union

PRESS RELEASE No 47/21

Luxembourg, 24 March 2021

Judgment in Case C-771/19 NAMA Symvouloi Michanikoi kai Meletites AE - LDK Symvouloi Michanikoi A.E. and Others v Archi Exetasis Prodikastikon Prosfigon (AEPP) and Attiko Metro A.E.

EU law precludes a national practice by which a candidate excluded from a public procurement procedure may rely, in that candidate’s appeal against the decision to admit the bid of another tenderer, only on the infringement of the principle of equality in the assessment of bids

The dismissal of the pre-litigation administrative appeal against the decision to exclude a candidate does not affect that candidate’s interest in bringing proceedings, provided that that dismissal by an independent national review authority does not have the authority of res judicata

On 24 January 2018, the company Attico Metro launched an open tendering procedure for technical consultancy services for the project to extend the Metro in Athens (Greece), 1 worth approximately € 21.5 million. The first stage of the tendering procedure consisted, inter alia, in reviewing the candidates’ technical bids, while the second consisted in the opening of economic bids and the overall assessment. Four candidates, including NAMA a.o. (‘NAMA’) and SALFO a.o. (‘SALFO’), 2 which are technical consultancy business associations, each submitted a bid. 

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