The High Court handed down the approved judgment on Monday 6 November 2023 in the case between Siemens Mobility Limited (“Siemens”) and High Speed Two (HS2) Limited (“HS2”). Siemens were unsuccessful in all their claim against High Speed Two (HS2) Limited. Siemens challenged the lawfulness of the public procurement process carried out by HS2 under the Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 (“UCR”), and the resulting award of a manufacture and supply agreement and a train maintenance and services agreement to a joint venture between Bombardier Transportation UK Limited and Hitachi Rail Limited.
This significant Case covers a number of important areas including: manifest error; breaches of the duties of transparency and equal treatment; conflicts of interest; abnormally low tenders; taking account of undisclosed matters; and wrongful exercise of discretion.
The findings reached in this judgment are relevant for other procurements carried out under the UCR. Once the Procurement Act 2023 comes into force which is expected later in 2024, contracting authorities will have the flexibility to design their own procedures and there will be different overarching objectives (delivering value for money and maximising public benefit) compared to the principles that underpin the current regime, e.g. equal treatment and non-discrimination, and so the grounds for challenge and the way challenges are dealt with is likely to change in the future.
In2 the bargain 