Unsuccessful bidder files constitutional case

An unsuccessful bidder for the EU accession celebration tender yesterday filed a constitutional application claiming that its rights to a fair hearing were violated.

ITC Ltd filed its application in the First Hall of the Civil Court against the Attorney General, the Appeals Board for Public Contracts and the Director of Contracts.

The company said it had not been awarded the tender after the Director of Contracts and the Contracts Committee, on the advice of the Adjudicating Board of the Ministry for Youth and Culture, awarded the tender to a consortium known as Welcome Europe.

ITC Ltd objected in writing to this decision and on its part Welcome Europe replied in writing to the objection. The Director of Contracts also submitted an analytic report. Following this the Appeals Board had, on February 19, called a meeting to discuss this appeal. However, the board refused to uphold the company's request for a number of documents, including the report prepared by the Adjudicating Board, to be exhibited in the appeal proceedings. This refusal, the company said, had led to a violation of its right to a fair hearing, which right was protected by the Constitution and the European Convention of Human Rights.

The court was requested to declare that the proceedings before the Appeals Board for Public Contracts were in violation of ITC Ltd's rights and to provide it with a remedy.

Prof. Ian Refalo signed the application.