Judgment of the General Court of 16 May 2019 — Transtec v Commission

(Case T-228/18) ¹

(Public service contracts — Tender procedure — Framework contract for the provision of services — Services to third countries benefiting from external aid — Rejection of a tenderer’s bid and award of the contract to other tenderers — Allegations of grave professional misconduct against a tenderer — No final judgment or final administrative decision establishing grave professional misconduct — Conditions for referral to the panel referred to in Article 108 of the Financial Regulation — Abnormally low tenders — Duty to state reasons — Taking into account of a letter sent by the awarding authority after the action had been brought — Right to an effective remedy — Standstill period for bringing an action against the award decision — Equal treatment — Principle of non-discrimination — Articles 105a, 106, 108, 113 and 118 of the Financial Regulation — Non-contractual liability)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: Transtec (Brussels, Belgium) (represented by: L. Levi and N. Flandin, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: A. Aresu and J. Estrada de Solà, acting as Agents)

Re:

First, application based on Article 263 TFEU, seeking annulment of the Commission’s decision of 26 March 2018, rejecting the tender for Lot 3 submitted by the consortium of which the applicant was the leader, in call for tenders EuropeAid/138778/DH/SER/Multi, entitled ‘Framework contract for the implementation of external aid 2018 (FWC SIEA 2018) 2017/S’, and the award of the contract to other tenderers and, second, application based on Article 268 TFEU, seeking compensation for the loss which the applicant allegedly suffered due to this rejection.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the action;

Orders Transtec to pay the costs, including those relating to the interim proceedings.

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¹ OJ C 182, 28.5.2018.