The case concerned a framework procurement with an estimated value of £230 million. The claimant was excluded at the first stage of the process following assessment of the Procurement Specific Questionnaire and challenged the lawfulness of the evaluation.
The claimant sought disclosure of evaluation records relating to other bidders on the basis that the evaluation may not have been conducted on a consistent and equal basis. The authority resisted the application, arguing that the point had not been properly pleaded and that the request amounted to a fishing expedition. The Court accepted that those comparator records were potentially relevant to the pleaded allegation of unequal treatment and ordered disclosure.
This is the first reported judgment to consider an application for specific disclosure under the Procurement Act 2023. The judgment suggests that the Court does not consider the new regime to require a fundamentally different approach to disclosure applications from that taken under the PCR 2015.