Judgment of the General Court of 21 February 2024 – Inivos and Inivos v Commission

(Case T-38/21) ¹

(Public procurement – Negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice – Supply of disinfection robots to European hospitals – Extreme urgency – COVID-19 – Non-participation of the applicants in the tendering procedure – Action for annulment – Lack of individual concern – Contractual nature of the dispute – Inadmissibility – Liability)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicants: Inivos Ltd (London, United Kingdom), Inivos BV (Rotterdam, Netherlands) (represented by: R. Martens, L. Hoet and A. Van Laer, lawyers)

Defendant: European Commission (represented by: L. André and M. Ilkova, acting as Agents)

Re:

By their action, the applicants seek first, on the basis of Article 263 TFEU, annulment of the decision of the European Commission of 18 September 2020 to use a negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice for the acquisition of disinfection robots (‘the decision to use the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice’), of the decision of 3 November 2020 to award that contract (‘the contested award decision’) and of the decision of 19 November 2020 to conclude the framework contracts with two operators, and a declaration that those framework contracts are null and void and, secondly, on the basis of Article 268 TFEU, compensation for the damage which they claim to have suffered as a result.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the action;

Orders Inivos Ltd and Inivos BV to pay the costs, including those relating to the interim proceedings.

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¹     OJ C 98, 22.3.2021.