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Action brought on 1 September 2008 - Evropaïki Dynamiki v Office for Official Publications of the European Communities

(Case T-387/08)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Evropaïki Dynamiki - Proigmena Systimata Tilepikoinonion Pliroforikis kai Tilematikis AE (Athens, Greece) (represented by: N. Korogiannakis, lawyer)

Defendant: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities

Form of order sought

Annul the decision of the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities (OPOCE) to reject the bid of the applicant, filed in response to open Call for Tender AO 10185 for "Computing Services - maintenance of the SEI-BUD/AMD/CR systems and related services" (OJ 2008/S 43-058884) communicated to the applicant by letter dated 20 June 2008 and to award the contract to the successful contractor;

Order OPOCE to pay the applicant's damages suffered on account of the tendering procedure in question in the amount of EUR 1 444 930;

Order OPOCE to pay the applicant's legal and other costs and expenses incurred in connection with this application, even if the current application is rejected.

Pleas in law and main arguments

In the present case the applicant seeks the annulment of the defendant's decision to reject its bid submitted in response to a call for an open tender AO 10185 regarding the "Computing Services - maintenance of the SEI-BUD/AMD/CR systems and related services" and to award the contract to the successful contractor. The applicant further requests compensation for the alleged damages on account of the tendering procedure.

In support of its claims the applicant argues that by awarding the aforementioned tender to another bidder the defendant failed to comply with its obligations foreseen in the financial regulation², its implementing rules and Directive 2004/18/EC as well as with the principles of transparency, equal treatment and proportionality.

The applicant moreover submits that the contracting authority infringed its obligation, foreseen in the above mentioned applicable rules, to sufficiently state reasons for its decision. Furthermore, the applicant alleges that the contracting authority used the criteria that were not expressively included in the call for tender, mixed evaluation with award criteria, therefore infringing the tender specifications, and committed several manifest errors of assessment which resulted in the rejection of the applicant's bid.

The applicant requests, hence, that the decision to reject its bid and to award the contract to the successful tenderer be annulled and that the defendant is ordered to pay, in addition to the applicant's legal expenses related to the proceedings, the damages suffered by the applicant on account of the tendering procedure.

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¹ - Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002 of 25 June 2002 on the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the European Communities (OJ L 248, p. 1)

² - Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts (OJ L 134, p. 114)