A suspension on the awarding of a new €800 million contract for Ireland's air search and rescue service has been lifted by the High Court.
Mr Justice Michael Twomey however placed a stay on his order, to allow the losing bidder and current incumbent to bring an appeal over his decision this Thursday.
In May, the Minister for Transport announced Bristow Ireland, a subsidiary of the US-based Bristow group, was the preferred bidder for the new contract.
The current provider, CHC Ireland, then brought a legal challenge claiming there were a number of flaws in the conduct of the tender competition. As a result, an automatic suspension on the awarding of the new contract kicked in, but the minister then applied to the High Court to have it lifted. CHC opposed the application.
CHC, which is one of the largest global operators of rotary wing aircraft, employs 141 in Ireland. It was awarded the current contract in 2012 for 10 years and has exercised options to extend up to July 2025.
Its proceedings are against the Minister for Transport with Bristow as a notice party.
Unusual aspects
In arguments before Mr Justice Twomey earlier this month, Catherine Donnelly SC, for CHC, said the suspension should stay in place because of a number of striking or unusual aspects to the awarding of the contract.
These included that confidential information had been shared during the process and certain evaluators had previously worked for Bristow, she said.
Ms Donnelly also said it was not in the public interest that there was a race to sign this contract in circumstances where her side had raised serious doubts about the Bristow service where many of its claims have not been properly addressed.
Douglas Clarke SC, for the minister, and Johathan Newman SC, for Bristow, urged the court not to grant an injunction which would prevent the contract being awarded to the winning bidder.
It was argued, among other things, that it was not simply a matter of "pulling down the lever and off goes the transition plan out of the traps", but something that required the two-year transition period so that the full new and improved service could be up and running.
On Tuesday, Mr Justice Twomey ruled the suspension should be lifted but agreed to stay his decision after he was told the Court of Appeal had listed any possible appeal of the decision for Thursday.
