Action brought on 25 November 2004 by European Dynamics SA against the Commission of the European Communities

(Case T-465/04)

(2005/C 57/45)

Language of the case: English

An action against the Commission of the European Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 25 November 2004 by European Dynamics SA, Athens, Greece, represented by N. Korogiannakis, lawyer.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant company filed a bid in response to the Commission's call for tenders FISH/2004/02 (1) for the provision of computer and related services linked to the information systems of the Directorate - General for Fisheries. By the contested decision this bid was rejected and the contract awarded to another bidder, which was also the incumbent contractor.

In support of its application for annulment of that decision the applicant claims first of all that the Commission violated the principle of non-discrimination and of free competition. The applicant considers that the Commission's decision to impose a two month familiarisation period unfavourably discriminated in favour of the incumbent, for whom the familiarisation period was obviously not necessary. In the same context the applicant also contends that delivery of information to the tenderers regarding the software application subject to the call for tenders was insufficient whilst of course the incumbent had unlimited access to such information.

The applicant further submits that the Commission violated the Financial Regulation (2) as well as Directive 92/50 (3) by using evaluation criteria that were not included in the call for tenders, namely the size of the applicant's proposed team, which was considered excessive by the Commission, and the average number of years of experience of the applicant's team, which the Commission considered was lower than that of the team proposed by the successful tenderer.

The applicant further considers that the Commission committed manifest errors of appreciation in its evaluation of the applicant's tender and in particular in its assessments of the expertise of its proposed team and of the applicant's financial offer where, according to the applicant, the Commission mistakenly assumed that all sixteen persons proposed by the applicant would be working in parallel for the whole of the project.

The applicant also invokes a violation, by the Commission, of its obligation, under Article 253 EC, to state reasons and a failure to provide pertinent information requested by the applicant on the grounds for the rejection of its bid. The applicant also submits that the Commission violated the principle of good administration and diligence by acting with significant delay and by not offering adequate answers to the applicant's requests for information prior to the submission of the bids.

(1)  OJ 2004/S 73 – 061407

(2)  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, 16/09/2002, p.1

(3)  Council Directive 92/50/EEC of 18 June 1992 relating to the coordination of procedures for the award of public service contracts, OJ L 209, 24/07/1992, p. 1