Procurement & Subsidy Control

The Supreme Court established that damages in procurement claims are not available as of right but depend on a “sufficiently serious” breach.

The first declaration of ineffectiveness in English public procurement case. Leading case on whether development agreements amount to public contracts.

This is a landmark authority on applications to lift automatic suspensions. The High Court considered a challenge to the award of a contract to run the National Lottery, one of the most valuable public contracts in the UK (around £6.5bn over ten years).

The High Court held that only economic operators who bid for a public contract have standing to bring a procurement claim, not sub-contractors.

This high-profile case arose from the collapse of Bulb Energy and the resulting public bailout and sale to Octopus Energy. It is an authority on the test for whether a subsidy award is proportionate.

This judgment of the High Court set out the test for whether an economic operator has accepted an abnormally low tender.

The High Court addressed the effect of the abandonment of procurement process on accrued causes of action.

The High Court held that the VIP lane for Government procurement of personal protective equipment contracts during the pandemic was unlawful.

This Supreme Court judgment is an important authority on whether the expansion of a public contract to encompass new services requires a fresh procurement.

This is the second case to be decided under the new subsidy control regime, and the leading authority on the definition of a subsidy and the Commercial Market Operator principle.