APPEALS PUT THE BRAKES ON PUBLIC PROJECTS AND SKYROCKET COSTS - ONLY ONE IN THREE SUCCEEDS IN THE TENDER REVIEW AUTHORITY, EVEN FEWER IN THE COURTS - Filenews 21/8 by Vassos Vassiliou
The start of the implementation of public and wider public sector projects, some of which cost tens of millions, is delayed due to appeals which are registered before the Tender Review Authority, resulting in an increase in expenditure and without the applicants having any consequences.
The increase in costs, as a result of appeals, may occur due to the cancellation and re-announcement of tenders, which prolongs the whole process for months and in the intervening period it is not uncommon for the cost of materials, transport, fuel, etc. to increase.
Companies that appeal to the Review Authority usually do not even pay the costs of the appeal they filed and lost. More infuriating is the phenomenon of some of the applicants registering the appeal simply to check the way in which their competitors who won the respective bid acted.
The answer to the question, "what percentage of appeals they achieve before the Tender Review Authority", is given by the Authority itself based on the latest data before it. Based on these, in 2024 out of all appeals, 12.8% succeeded (while the corresponding percentage for 2023 was 39.2%) and 72.3% were rejected (43.1% in 2023), while 14.9% withdrew (17.6% in 2023). In terms of temporary measures, 88.4% were granted (98.0% in 2023), 9.3% were rejected (0% in 2023) and 2.3% were withdrawn (2% in 2023).
However, if we refer to the data of the period (2004 – 2024), which are even more representative due to the long duration they cover, it is found that on average 34.2% of the Appeals registered with the Tender Review Authority succeed, 53.6% are rejected and 12.1% are withdrawn by the applicants. That is, it achieves about one in three appeals.
Of course, the decisions of the Revision Authority are not gospel and the final judge is the Justice, before which 234 bidders appealed from 2004 to 2024. It is noted that during the above period, 1,500 decisions were issued by the Revisionary Authority. The 234 appeals correspond to approximately 15.6% of all decisions issued by the Revision Authority.
From the appeals that have been heard by the Courts in the periods (2004-2011 and 2013-2016) it appears that the ratification rates of the decisions of the Tender Review Authority (i.e. withdrawal by the applicants and rejection by the Court) constitute the largest part of the outcome of the decisions and amount to an average of 80.6%. The Reviewing Authority indicates that even if all the years of operation of the Authority are taken into account, the ratification rate of its decisions also remains high and amounts to 63%, although a percentage of 21.1% of cases are pending.
Of interest not only for the bidders but also for the public interest is the time of issuance of a decision by the Reviewing Authority from the date of registration of an appeal. It is noted that the reference to the public interest concerns the fact that if the delay is long, it also reflects on the time of completion of the projects.
Based on the data of the Revision Authority itself, the average time to complete the procedure before is 107 days (3.6 months). However, there are also cases in which the time for issuing a decision varies between 41-159 days, i.e. between 1.4-5.3 months.
The Reviewing Authority also attributes the time of issuance of decisions to external factors, such as: The Contracting Authorities delay sending to the Tender Review Authority the report of events requested from them and the relevant administrative files. In other cases, the delay is due to the applicants, who are late in inspecting the relevant files (companies from abroad). In addition, both parties may request a postponement of the hearing procedure and its appointment to a later date for various reasons, or the applicants may usually request an extension of the time for the recording of oral arguments and the contracting authorities do not object.
In addition, there are cases where the delay is also due to substantial reasons such as, among others, submission of pre-examination objections, issues of confidentiality of documents and refusal to disclose them – which sometimes lead to the issuance of an interim decision by the Tender Review Authority – a huge volume of administrative files that cause procedural problems, simultaneous inspection of the files by two or three economic operators who have appealed to the Authority for the same competition.
Another important factor that affects the completion time of a case is the rate of registration of Appeals. Also, an important factor was the fact that in 2008 and 2014 there was no immediate appointment after the end of the mandate of the previous Committees, resulting in the accumulation of a significant number of cases that had to be examined by the Authority in its new composition.
The start of the implementation of public and wider public sector projects, some of which cost tens of millions, is delayed due to appeals which are registered before the Tender Review Authority, resulting in an increase in expenditure and without the applicants having any consequences.
The increase in costs, as a result of appeals, may occur due to the cancellation and re-announcement of tenders, which prolongs the whole process for months and in the intervening period it is not uncommon for the cost of materials, transport, fuel, etc. to increase.
Companies that appeal to the Review Authority usually do not even pay the costs of the appeal they filed and lost. More infuriating is the phenomenon of some of the applicants registering the appeal simply to check the way in which their competitors who won the respective bid acted.
The answer to the question, "what percentage of appeals they achieve before the Tender Review Authority", is given by the Authority itself based on the latest data before it. Based on these, in 2024 out of all appeals, 12.8% succeeded (while the corresponding percentage for 2023 was 39.2%) and 72.3% were rejected (43.1% in 2023), while 14.9% withdrew (17.6% in 2023). In terms of temporary measures, 88.4% were granted (98.0% in 2023), 9.3% were rejected (0% in 2023) and 2.3% were withdrawn (2% in 2023).
However, if we refer to the data of the period (2004 – 2024), which are even more representative due to the long duration they cover, it is found that on average 34.2% of the Appeals registered with the Tender Review Authority succeed, 53.6% are rejected and 12.1% are withdrawn by the applicants. That is, it achieves about one in three appeals.
Of course, the decisions of the Revision Authority are not gospel and the final judge is the Justice, before which 234 bidders appealed from 2004 to 2024. It is noted that during the above period, 1,500 decisions were issued by the Revisionary Authority. The 234 appeals correspond to approximately 15.6% of all decisions issued by the Revision Authority.
From the appeals that have been heard by the Courts in the periods (2004-2011 and 2013-2016) it appears that the ratification rates of the decisions of the Tender Review Authority (i.e. withdrawal by the applicants and rejection by the Court) constitute the largest part of the outcome of the decisions and amount to an average of 80.6%. The Reviewing Authority indicates that even if all the years of operation of the Authority are taken into account, the ratification rate of its decisions also remains high and amounts to 63%, although a percentage of 21.1% of cases are pending.
Of interest not only for the bidders but also for the public interest is the time of issuance of a decision by the Reviewing Authority from the date of registration of an appeal. It is noted that the reference to the public interest concerns the fact that if the delay is long, it also reflects on the time of completion of the projects.
Based on the data of the Revision Authority itself, the average time to complete the procedure before is 107 days (3.6 months). However, there are also cases in which the time for issuing a decision varies between 41-159 days, i.e. between 1.4-5.3 months.
The Reviewing Authority also attributes the time of issuance of decisions to external factors, such as: The Contracting Authorities delay sending to the Tender Review Authority the report of events requested from them and the relevant administrative files. In other cases, the delay is due to the applicants, who are late in inspecting the relevant files (companies from abroad). In addition, both parties may request a postponement of the hearing procedure and its appointment to a later date for various reasons, or the applicants may usually request an extension of the time for the recording of oral arguments and the contracting authorities do not object.
In addition, there are cases where the delay is also due to substantial reasons such as, among others, submission of pre-examination objections, issues of confidentiality of documents and refusal to disclose them – which sometimes lead to the issuance of an interim decision by the Tender Review Authority – a huge volume of administrative files that cause procedural problems, simultaneous inspection of the files by two or three economic operators who have appealed to the Authority for the same competition.
Another important factor that affects the completion time of a case is the rate of registration of Appeals. Also, an important factor was the fact that in 2008 and 2014 there was no immediate appointment after the end of the mandate of the previous Committees, resulting in the accumulation of a significant number of cases that had to be examined by the Authority in its new composition.
