Judgment of the General Court (Eighth Chamber) of 8 December 2011 – Evropaïki Dynamiki v Commission

(Case T-39/08)

Public service contracts – Tendering procedure – Provision of information technology services relating to the hosting, management, enhancement, promotion and maintenance of an internet portal – Rejection of a tender and award of the contract to another tenderer – Selection criteria – Award criteria – Non‑contractual liability

1.                     European Union public contracts – Conclusion of a contract following a call for tenders – Criteria for selecting candidates – Assessment of the candidates’ capacity to provide specified services – Award criteria – Comparative assessment of the particular characteristics and merits of individual tenders – Application of a criterion for assessing the capacity of the candidates to perform a contract during the contract attribution phase – Not permissible (Council Regulation No 1605/2002, Art. 97(1) and (2); Commission Regulation No 2342/2002, Art. 138) (see paras 17-24, 38-40, 42)

2.                     European Union public contracts – Conclusion of a contract following a call for tenders – Discretion of the institutions (see paras 21, 47)

3.                     Non-contractual liability – Conditions – Unlawfulness – Damage – Causal link – Burden of proof – One of the conditions not satisfied – Claim for compensation dismissed in its entirety (Art. 288, second para., EC) (see paras 45-47)

Re:

First, application for annulment of the Commission Decision of 12 November 2007 rejecting the tender submitted by the applicant in open call for tenders EAC/04/07 relating to the hosting, management, improvement, promotion and maintenance of the Commission’s internet portal for ‘e-learning’ (elearningeuropa.info) (OJ 2007 S 87), and awarding the contract to another tenderer, and, second, application for damages.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls the Commission Decision of 12 November 2007 rejecting the tender submitted by Evropaïki Dynamiki – Proigmena Systimata Tilepikoinonion Pliroforikis kai Tilematikis AE in open call for tenders EAC/04/07 relating to the hosting, management, enhancement, promotion and maintenance of the European Commission’s internet portal on eLearning (elearningeuropa.info), and awarding the contract to another tenderer;

2. Dismisses the application for damages;

3. Orders the Commission to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Evropaïki Dynamiki – Proigmena Systimata Tilepikoinonion Pliroforikis kai Tilematikis.