Teleperformance Contact Limited v The Secretary of State for the Home Department
[2023] EWHC 2481 (TCC)
Boxxe Limited v The Secretary of State for Justice
13 March 2023
[2023] EWHC 533 (TCC)
High Court
Two companies bid for a government contract. One (SCC) won with a strangely low price for one part of the bid, even though its total price was much higher than the other company's (Boxxe). Boxxe sued, but the judge said Boxxe could be compensated with money if it won the case later. The judge also said that delaying the project would seriously hurt the government, so the contract with the winning company went ahead.
Key Facts
- •Boxxe Limited (Boxxe), an unsuccessful tenderer, challenged the award of a call-off contract for digital and audiovisual equipment to Specialist Computer Centres Plc (SCC) by the Secretary of State for Justice (SoSJ).
- •SCC bid £0 for the storage service, resulting in a higher overall score than Boxxe despite SCC's higher overall price.
- •Boxxe claimed the contract award was due to an 'arithmetic quirk' in the pricing model, leading to a perverse outcome.
- •Boxxe's claim included seven grounds challenging the evaluation process, including non-compliance of SCC's bid, undisclosed evaluation criteria, and unequal treatment.
- •SoSJ argued that Boxxe's claim was out of time, exceeding the 30-day limitation period under Regulation 92 of the Public Contracts Regulations (PCR).
- •SoSJ applied to lift the automatic suspension under Regulation 95(1) PCR.
Legal Principles
American Cyanamid test for granting interim injunctions.
American Cyanamid
Interpretation of time limits in legislation, specifically 'beginning with' vs. 'from' a specified date.
Zoan v Rouamba [2000] 1 WLR 1509, Trow v. Ind Coope (West Midlands) Ltd. [1967] 2 Q.B. 899, Wang v University of Keele [2011] ICR 1251, Stevenson v General Optical Council [2015] EWHC 3099, Access for Living v London Borough of Lewisham [2021] EWHC 3498 (TCC)
Adequacy of damages as a factor in deciding interim injunction applications.
Various cases cited, including Circle Nottingham Limited v NHS Rushcliffe Clinical Commissioning Group [2019] EWHC 1315 (TCC), Alstom Transport UK Limited v Network Rail [2019] EWHC 3585 (TCC)
Sufficiently serious breach for Francovich damages.
Francovich principle
Balance of convenience in interim injunction applications.
American Cyanamid and various subsequent cases
Outcomes
SoSJ's application to lift the suspension was granted.
The court found that damages would be an adequate remedy for Boxxe, given the undertaking offered by SoSJ regarding Francovich damages, and that damages would not be adequate for SoSJ due to potential financial losses and delays in the project.