Judgment annulling agreements on amendments to public transport service contracts enters into force

COBALT public procurement dispute specialists successfully represented passenger carrier TUKUMA AUTO SIA in a claim against Autotransporta Direkcija VSIA (Road Transport Administration in Latvia) regarding the amendments to procurement agreements concluded with Nordeka AS for the provision of public transport services by buses on regional route networks. The similar claim to the court was submitted also by CATA AS.

By judgment of the Administrative District Court of 2 March 2023, the claim of TUKUMA AUTO SIA and CATA AS was upheld. On 8 May 2023 the Supreme Court decided not to initiate cassation proceedings in the case (SKA-671/2023), and the Administrative District Court’s judgment upholding the claim entered into force.

In its decision, Senators stated that, in public procurement, it is important to preserve, as far as possible, the contractual terms on which potential tenderers relied when preparing their bids. Therefore, the Administrative District Court was justified in assessing whether the substantial amendments to the procurement agreement in the present case were necessitated by unforeseeable circumstances; that is to say, whether the difficulties experienced by AS Nordeka in commencing timely contract performance were indeed circumstances that could not have been foreseen and avoided in advance.

Representation of TUKUMA AUTO SIA before all court instances was ensured by Partner Sandija Novicka and Associate Artūrs Valderšteins.