Supreme Court Rules On Discovery In Public Procurement Cases

In September the Supreme Court considered discovery applications in the context of procurement litigation in the case of Word Perfect Translation Services Limited v Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

Discovery in judicial review proceedings is not typical. It is, however, a feature of procurement cases (which are a form of judicial review). In procurement cases, applicants are in a position of information deficit; they often have little information to go on prior to issuing proceedings. Accessing discovery materials relating to the contracting authority's decision-making process and rival tenderers' bids therefore can provide detailed and necessary insights into the procurement processes undertaken by awarding authorities and, on occasion, unearth additional grounds of challenge to the applicant.