News
New decision from complaints board increases clarity regarding the Danish Public Procurement Act
Contracting entities can choose not to publish the entire evaluation method in their tender documents. This has been decided by the Danish complaints board in a test case. The Competition and Consumer Authority brought the case before the board to clarify how section 160 of the Danish Public Procurement Act, concerning the publication of evaluation models, should be interpreted.
Director of the Competition and Consumer Authority Jakob Hald says:
"We brought the complaint to the complaints board to seek legal clarity regarding the Public Procurement Act’s rules for the publication of evaluation methods. We now have that clarity, and we note the board's ruling. We will now revise our guidance accordingly."
"The contracting entities should continue to disclose in advance how they will evaluate the offers they receive, but the ruling means that they are not required to publish the gradient in point-based evaluation models. We still believe that more transparency around evaluation provides better conditions for the competition, and we therefore recommend publication even if it is not a legal requirement."
The complaints board ruled that Central Denmark Region complied with the Danish Public Procurement Act, despite not publishing the entire evaluation method in the tender documents for their tender for anaesthesia machines and monitors. Specifically, the ruling means that the gradient in point-based models does not have to be published. Thus, the Competition and Consumer Authority did not see their complaint upheld.
In the ruling of 8 August 2017, the Public Procurement Appeals Board writes, among other things:
"It follows that there is no legal basis in section 160 subsection (1) of the Danish Procurement Act for a requirement, as set forth in claim 1, that the gradient of a linear point-based model to be used in the evaluation of the tenders insofar as concerns the financial subcriterion, should be specified in the tender documents."
The Competition and Consumer Authority will now review its "Guidelines on evaluation methods" in order to bring it into line with the ruling of the board.
For further information, contact the Competition and Consumer Authority’s Communications Manager Hanne Arentoft by telephoning +45 41 71 50 98.