Excession Technologies Limited v. Police Digital Service
[2022] EWHC 413 (TCC)
In the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, Technology and Construction Courts
Case HT-2021-000147
Before Justice O’Farrell
Decided on February 25, 2022

Relevancy of the Case: Applicability of appropriate public contract regulations on a contract for police surveillance operation rooms

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 (Regulation 7(1)(b))
• Public Contracts Regulations 2015

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The defendant released a tender for the procurement of information technology services in relation to police surveillance operation rooms.
• The claimant participated in the tender process and placed its bid. However, it eventually lost to another company (Airbox Systems Limited).
• After losing the tender, the claimant filed for judicial review of the contract award.

Prominent Arguments by the Counsels

• The claimant’s counsel argued that the defendant should not have considered the aggregate score of the eventual winner as the same was abnormally low.
• The defendant’s counsel submitted that the contract’s purpose was intelligence activities. This contract would be out of the scope of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011. The claimant received a lower aggregate score because they had significantly higher pricing than the eventual winner.

Opinion of the Bench

• The defendant can rely on the exemption under Regulation 7(1) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 1011. Therefore, the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 would apply to the contract.
• The claimants cannot challenge the award as they did not start proceedings until April 2021. Their proceedings began way past the 30-day deadline imposed by the governing laws.

Final Decision

• The court dismissed the claim.

Satvik Mishra, an undergraduate student at the Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab, prepared this case summary during his internship with The Cyber Blog India in May/June 2022.