Public Contracts Regulations 2015 - Regulation 94

Regulation 94 - Starting proceedings

This Regulation defines how the proceedings before the court are to start. As a general rule, the economic operator wishing to start the proceedings must serve the claim form on the contracting authority within 7 days of it being issued, in accordance with the rules of court (paragraph 5).

The Regulation contains specific rules for claims where a declaration of ineffectiveness is being sought or a breach of Regulations 87. 95 or 96(1)(b) when the contract is yet to be fully performed. In such situations, the economic operator must also send the claim form to all other persons party to the contract. This is to be done "as soon as practicable", which sounds fairly vague although there is a clear obligation to do so quickly (paragraph 3).

The "soon as practicable" request appears once again in paragraph 4 where it is asked from the contracting authority to provide for "any information" the economic operator may "reasonably require" to comply with paragraph 3. It would appear that this obligation is limited only to the information about other parties involved in the contract, and not the contract itself.