Cases - ATI EAC

Record details

Name

ATI EAC

Date

[2005]

Citation

ECR I-10109

Keywords

Transparency and secret criteria - tenderers in a position of equality - criteria expressly mentioned in the contract documents or tender notice

Summary

The contracting authority had disclosed contract award criteria and, in the case of the third criterion, 5 headings under which descriptions should be provided. The Italian Court referred to the ECJ the issue of whether it had been lawful to supplement the third criterion with an additional weighting scheme which had been introduced after the tenders had been received.

The ECJ decided:

• Tenderers must be in a position of equality both when they formulate their tenders and when those tenders are being assessed.
• All criteria must be expressly mentioned in the contract documents or the tender notice, where possible in descending order of importance, so that operators are in a position to be aware of their existence and scope.
• It is important that potential tenderers are aware of all the features to be taken into account by the contracting authority in identifying the most economically advantageous offer, and, if possible, their relative importance, when they prepare their tenders.