Jennifer Skilbeck's Library

Letting International: Is there a distinction between criteria, sub-criteria and even sub-sub criteria in procurement law?

In Letting International v London Borough of Newham [2008] EWHC 1583 (QB), judgment of 7 July 2008, Silber J considered the difficult issue of the extent of the contracting authority's obligation to disclose criteria, ...

Interim Relief in the Standstill Period

To give effect to the decision of the ECJ in Alcatel, (C-81/98), the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 provide for a mandatory "standstill" period between contract award and the conclusion of a contract with the successful ...

No Right for Bidders to Negotiate in Fantasystan

The Claimant (3663)'s main challenge was to the decision by anagency of the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO), to award the 2nd Defendant (Purple) a 5 year contract for the provision of food and bottled ...

Risks and Realities of you Being Caught Out as Non-Compliant and in Breach of Proprietary Information

Judicial Review in the CAT

As the new UK competition law regime continues to unfold, the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") has recently registered two firsts in relation to its judicial review jurisdiction under the Enterprise Act 2002 ("the 2002 ...

Abuse of a Dominant Position: Article 82, the JJ Burgess Case and Geographical Location

The purpose of this brief note is not to repeat the outline of "abuse of a dominant position". This can be found in a number of sources, including the JCRA Guidelines, some of which are listed below. The purpose is rather to ...

The Racecourse Association Ahead at the Finish Line

The Competition Appeal Tribunal's ("CAT") recent judgment in The Racecourse Association v OFT [2005] CAT 29 raises the important issue of the circumstances in which joint selling might be considered anti-competitive. It is ...

Competitive Pricing in Competition Law ~ Food for Thought from the Privy Council

Analysis of anti-competitive pricing by a dominant firm has always been difficult. Practitioners will be familiar with the general rule set out in AKZO (Case C-62/86 AKZO Chemie v Commission [1991] ECR I-3359) in ...

JJ Burgess v OFT

On 6 July 2005 the Competition Appeal Tribunal ("CAT") issued its judgment on the appeal by JJ Burgess ("Burgess") against the decision of the OFT that W Austin & Sons (Stevenage) Limited ("Austins") were not in breach of the ...

Acting "Promptly" and "Pre-promptly"

Most practitioners used to believe that as long as proceedings for a breach of the Procurement Regulations were brought within three months of the alleged breach the court would be unlikely to find them out of time. No-one ...

Can a Major Public Sector Purchaser Control the Prices it Pays or Is It Subject to the Competition Act?

Pressure on the public sector to increase the efficiency of its purchasing has led to some public sector purchasers adopting practices which may be unfair and anti-competitive. The OFT is currently investigating the purchasing practices of ...

Fenin: a Pyrrhic Victory for Public Sector Buyers?

The definition of an "undertaking" for competition law purposes has taken a further turn with two cases, one at the UK Competition Commission Appeals Tribunal and one at the European Court of First ...

Fix the penalty for fixing the price - Financial Times

"The US experience has persuaded the British government to use the enterprise bill to add criminal sanctions to the already punitive civil powers for dealing with price-fixing cartels. Whether this measure will ultimately offer any ...

Supplying the Public Sector: A Case for a Cartel?

A continuing concern of those who advise suppliers to the public sector has at last come before the Courts. How can such suppliers ensure that increasingly sophisticated public procurement departments use their exceptional ...

Case Law Update: A Resume of the Most Significant Cases on Procurement

Most cases under the procurement Directives and Regulations have been brought by the Commission. There are very few private actions, ...

Refusal to Supply by a Dominant Undertaking: Burgess v OFT [2005] CAT 25

Confidentiality Issues in Public Procurement

Procurement: A Case Law Update

EU Public Procurement: A Piece of Cake?

David and Goliath