Background
Parkingeye Ltd v Velindre University NHS Trust provides the first judgment under the Procurement Act 2023 ("2023 Act") in relation to lifting the automatic suspension.
Facts
Velindre University NHS Trust and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board ran a procurement under the 2023 Act for a five-year car park management contract for 59 NHS car parks in Wales, worth £10m-£20m. The current car park management services provider since 2018, Parkingeye Limited, bid unsuccessfully and challenged the decision to award the contract to National Parking Control Group Limited.
Parkingeye issued proceedings in January 2026, which triggered an automatic suspension of the procurement, claiming that Velindre had breached the 2023 Act in various ways, including by identifying the wrong contracting authority, materially misstating the contract value, failing to identify the contract as a concession contract, and treating bidders unequally. Velindre applied for the automatic suspension to be lifted.
Decision
Key to lifting the automatic suspension was how to apply the new test under section 102 of the 2023 Act. This requires the court to consider the public interest (including the principle that public contracts should be awarded in accordance with the law), the interests of suppliers (including consideration of whether damages are an adequate remedy for the claimant) and any other relevant matters.
The court applied the test to balance the public interest against the interests of suppliers and found that there was no significant public interest in favour of lifting the automatic suspension: car parking services would continue under the existing contract, and the court did not find the benefits of the new contract to be particularly significant. The court dismissed the applications to lift the automatic suspension.
The court emphasised the need to give proper weight to the public interest. The court also confirmed that each outcome should be decided on a case-by-case basis, and that the adequacy of damages is not as significant a factor as it was in the previous public procurement regime under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
Significance
This may herald something of a rebalance of power between the old and new procurement regimes as regards lifting automatic suspensions, compared to the test under the 2015 Regulations. It may be more difficult for contracting authorities to succeed in lifting an automatic suspension of procurements under the 2023 Act.
However, leave to appeal is being sought, so this judgment may not be the final decision on this matter.
