The court affirmed that the winning joint bid met all legal and technical requirements.

The first-tier Tallinn Administrative Court has dismissed AS Semetron's complaint, upholding the decision made by the Estonian Centre for Defense Investment (RKIK) to award the field hospital procurement contract to MDSC Systems OÜ and AS Maru Metall.

The ruling confirmed that the Public Procurement Review Committee (VAKO) had "reached the correct conclusion" in rejecting Semetron's challenge.

In its complaint, Semetron argued that the winning bidders lacked the necessary authorizations to sell the stated medical devices. However, the court found that the bidder was "not obligated" to purchase these devices from a specific supplier but could instead develop them independently or acquire them from other countries via parallel import.

The decision thus clarified the extent to which procurement rules allow for flexibility in sourcing equipment.

The complainant also claimed that at the end of negotiations, the bid price was the only variable that could be altered, whereas other evaluative criteria could not. However, the court ruled that "broader modifications to the bid were permissible" since the contracting authority had altered procurement conditions and notified all bidders accordingly.

Furthermore, Semetron contended that the winning bid should have been disqualified due to its unreasonably low price. The court dismissed this argument too, stating that "a lower price does not automatically indicate an underbid and that there was no obligation to conduct an additional verification procedure."

It sided with both VAKO and the contracting authority in affirming that no further review was necessary.

The court also rejected Semetron's claim that the winning bidder should have been excluded for failing to meet qualification requirements. It ruled that the complainant had "misinterpreted the qualification requirements" and clarified that these were "not tied to technical conditions" but instead to "the broader capability of supplying mobile dressing stations and field hospitals."

Since the winning bidder had submitted valid reference contracts, which were verified by the contracting authority, the qualification requirements were deemed fulfilled, the court said.

Finally, the court found that RKIK's decision to consider the winning bid as compliant with procurement conditions was lawful. It stated that procurement terms did not require all technical conditions to be met at the time of bid submission but only before signing the contract.

This aligned with VAKO's previous determination.

As of now, the decision has not yet entered into force.

MDSC Systems OÜ and AS Maru Metall had won the field hospital tender.

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