Judgment of 13th march 2025, of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) (case 060/24.9BEMDL), Portugal
Article(s) in Directive 2014/24/EU: Article 59 (4) of Directive 2014/24/EU
Topic: Open procedure; exclusion grounds; professional requirements
Member State: PT
Court/rev. board: Supreme Administrative Court (SAC)
1. IMPLEMENTATION / RELEVANT NATIONAL LEGISLATION
2. FACTS
In an open procedure for the awarding of a public works contract, the excluded bidder asked the Court for the annulment of the award decision and of the decision which excluded his bid, therefore asking not only for the readmission in the procedure, but also for an injunction to award the contract to the claimant.
The reason for the exclusion was the absence of a license/qualification at the time of submission of the proposal, without (from the perspective of the excluded bidder) taking into account that the claimant held this category at the time of the legal qualification phase (later on during the procedure). Therefore, the violation of the principles of competition, equality and non-discrimination, and legality was invoked.
3. JUDGMENT
The Court highlighted that the requirement for professional qualification is relevant to demonstrate that bidders can carry out works in the subject object of the contract. The fact that, after the deadline for the submission the bids, but prior to the award, the tender demonstrates that he holds a legally required license is irrelevant: all bidders must hold these permits by the time they submit their bids, and not after this moment.
