Losing SEAI retrofit services bidder challenges refusal to disclose pricing structure of winning bid
A losing bidder for a €75 million contract to provide surveys for the retrofitting of hundreds of thousands of properties is appealing a High Court refusal to order the winning bidder to disclose its lower and confidential pricing structure.
The contract, awarded by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), is set to last up to five years and is estimated to be worth €75 million. The services include supplying building energy ratings (BERs), surveys and inspections.
The contract is currently held by Kerrigan Sheanon Newman Unlimited Company which has been supplying the services to the SEAI since 2012.
The company lost out in the public procurement process when a new contract was publicly offered for tender. That tender was won by Abtran.
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Kerrigan Sheanon Newman then brought High Court proceedings against the SEAI, with Abtran as notice party, challenging the award. It claimed the Abtran tender was too low, pointing out that it was 30 per cent lower than the price currently being paid to it for the service.
The SEAI disputes Kerrigan Sheanon Newman's claims.
In a pretrial application, Kerrigan Sheanon Newman sought discovery of documents and materials from the SEAI in relation to the Abtran tender.
Last February, the High Court refused to grant discovery, saying Kerrigan Sheanon Newman did not provide compelling arguments to justify the 'very significant encroachment on the confidentiality of a winning tenderer's bid'.
On Tuesday, Jonathan Newman SC, for Kerrigan Sheanon Newman, told the court his client has brought an appeal over that decision. While there had been certain agreed discovery between the parties, the High Court decision went against 'the run of case law' in discovery.
An appeal date had been set in July and the parties were agreeable to a hearing of the matter in December, he said.
Mr Justice Mark Sanfey said it was clearly a very urgent matter and he would list it for hearing for four days in December.
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