Judgment of the General Court (Sixth Chamber) of 16 November 2017 — European Dynamics Luxembourg and Others v ABE

(Case T‑229/15)

(Public service contracts — Tendering procedure — Provision of interim staff for IT services — Rejection of a tenderer’s bid — Obligation to state reasons — Manifest error of assessment)

1.	European Union public contracts—Conclusion of a contract following a call for tenders—Discretion of the institutions—Judicial review—Limits (see para. 32)

2.	Acts of the institutions—Statement of reasons—Obligation—Scope—Assessment of the duty to state reasons by reference to the circumstances of the case—Need to specify all the relevant factual and legal elements—None (Art. 296 TFEU) (see paras 33-35)

3.	Action for annulment—Pleas in law—Lack of or inadequate statement of reasons—Separate ground from the one concerning substantive legality (Arts 263 TFEU and 296 TFEU) (see para. 36)

Acts of the institutions—Statement of reasons—Obligation—Scope—Decision, in the procedure for the award of a public service contract, not to accept a tender—Obligation on the awarding authority to notify, on written request, the characteristics and relative advantages of the tender accepted and the name of the successful tenderer—Obligation to provide a detailed summary as how every detail of the rejected tender was taken into account for assessment purposes, or a detailed comparative analysis of the accepted tender and the unsuccessful tender—None

(Art. 296 TFEU; European Parliament and Council Regulation No 966/2012, Art. 113(2); Commission Regulation No 1268/2012, Art. 161)

(see paras 37-39, 58-60, 69)

5.	Non-contractual liability—Conditions—Unlawfulness—Injury—Causal link—Cumulative conditions—One of the conditions not satisfied—Claim for compensation dismissed in its entirety (Art. 340, second para., TFEU) (see para. 186)

Re:

First, an action under Article 263 TFEU seeking annulment of the decision of the EBA of 2 March 2015 rejecting the applicants’ tender submitted in response to the restricted tendering procedure EBA/2014/06/OPS/SER/RT with respect to Lot 1, titled ‘Supply of interim staff: Supply of interim staff for Information Technology’ and, second, an action under Article 268 TFEU seeking compensation for harm that the applicants allegedly suffered following that decision as a result of the loss of opportunity to be ranked in first place in the cascade the contract award procedure at issue, amounting to EUR 300000, together with interest.

Operative part

The Court:

1.	Dismisses the action;

2.	Orders European Dynamics Luxembourg SA, Evropaïki Dynamiki — Proigmena Systimata Tilepikoinonion Pliroforikis kai Tilematikis AE and European Dynamics Belgium SA to pay the costs.