Serco Ltd v Secretary of State for Defence

Serco Ltd v Secretary of State for Defence

The claim under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 is struck out because those regulations were not in force at the relevant date and cannot apply to the procurement. The pre-action correspondence and annexed documents provided sufficient notice of alleged breaches under the Defence Regulations, covering all RoRs, so claims relating to RoRs not specifically identified in pre-action correspondence should not be struck out.

Parties
Claimant/respondent: Serco Ltd; Defendant/applicant: Secretary of State for Defence
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Judgment Date
27 February 2019
Procedural Posture
Procurement Challenge / Application to Strike Out And/or Summary Judgment
Outcome
Application partially allowed
Legal Topics
Strike Out Applications, Summary Judgment, Sufficiency of Notice, Applicable Regulations, Disclosure, Evaluation Criteria
Public Procurement Administrative Law Strike Out Applications Summary Judgment Sufficiency of Notice Applicable Regulations Disclosure Evaluation Criteria

Case Brief

Summary, issues, holding and outcome

More case intelligence is available

Unlock the full research layer for this judgment.

Full judgment text Downloadable case file Legal principles 4 Authorities cited 9 Party arguments 2 Amounts and remedies 2
Sign in to unlock

Parties

Serco Ltd

Claimant/respondent

Secretary of State for Defence

Defendant/applicant

Procedural Posture

Procurement Challenge / Application to Strike Out And/or Summary Judgment

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 apply to the procurement
  2. 2 Whether the claim under PCR 2015 should be struck out
  3. 3 Whether sufficient notice of alleged breaches was given under Regulation 52(3) of the Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations 2011

Ratio Decidendi

The claim under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 is struck out because those regulations were not in force at the relevant date and cannot apply to the procurement. The pre-action correspondence and annexed documents provided sufficient notice of alleged breaches under the Defence Regulations, covering all RoRs, so claims relating to RoRs not specifically identified in pre-action correspondence should not be struck out.

Court Disposition

Application partially allowed

Orders

  • Claim under Public Contracts Regulations 2015 struck out
  • Claims relating to RoRs not specifically identified in pre-action correspondence not struck out