Disclosure Of Winning Bids In Irish Public Procurement Challenges

On 28 March 2018, the Irish Court of Appeal gave judgment on an appeal against the High Court's refusal to order discovery of parts of a successful tender in a public procurement process (Word Perfect Translation Services Limited v The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (No.2))¹.

The case reflects two significant difficulties in public procurement disputes:

• Balancing the competing interests of the disclosure of probative material, with the preservation of the confidentiality of highly sensitive documents; and
• Bringing forward a party's case in pleadings as effectively as possible in the limited time normally available, and the implications of this for discovery.

Background