Amaryllis Ltd v HM Treasury No. 2 [2009] EWHC 1666 (TCC) (02 July 2009)

Amaryllis Ltd v HM Treasury No. 2 [2009] EWHC 1666 (TCC) (02 July 2009)

Documents relevant to the pleaded issues, including PQQs of other suppliers and internal evaluation materials, must be disclosed unless specific and justified grounds for public interest immunity or confidentiality are established. In this case, the Defendant's internal documents are not protected by PII, and third party supplier information can be disclosed with appropriate redactions and anonymisation to protect confidential information, ensuring a fair trial without unnecessary harm to third parties.

Citation
[2009] EWHC 1666 (TCC)
Parties
Claimant: Amaryllis Limited; Defendant: HM Treasury (sued as OGCbuying solutions.com)
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Judgment Date
02 July 2009
Procedural Posture
Application for Disclosure and Inspection of Documents in Procurement Litigation / Interlocutory Application Prior to Trial on Liability
Outcome
Application for disclosure granted in part, subject to redactions and anonymisation as specified.
Legal Topics
Disclosure of Documents, Public Interest Immunity, Confidentiality, Proportionality in Disclosure, Relevance of Documents, Freedom of Information, Comparative Evaluation in Tenders
Public Procurement Civil Procedure Disclosure of Documents Public Interest Immunity Confidentiality Proportionality in Disclosure Relevance of Documents Freedom of Information +1 more

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Parties

Amaryllis Limited

Claimant

HM Treasury (sued as OGCbuying solutions.com)

Defendant

Procedural Posture

Application for Disclosure and Inspection of Documents in Procurement Litigation / Interlocutory Application Prior to Trial on Liability

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the Defendant must disclose and allow inspection of documents relating to the procurement process, including documents provided by third party suppliers and internal evaluation materials, in light of claims of public interest immunity and confidentiality.
  2. 2 Whether the documents sought are relevant and proportionate to the issues in the case.
  3. 3 How to balance the public interest in open justice and fair trial against the public interest in protecting confidential commercial information.

Ratio Decidendi

Documents relevant to the pleaded issues, including PQQs of other suppliers and internal evaluation materials, must be disclosed unless specific and justified grounds for public interest immunity or confidentiality are established. In this case, the Defendant's internal documents are not protected by PII, and third party supplier information can be disclosed with appropriate redactions and anonymisation to protect confidential information, ensuring a fair trial without unnecessary harm to third parties.

Court Disposition

Application for disclosure granted in part, subject to redactions and anonymisation as specified.

Orders

  • Defendant to disclose the marked version of the Claimant's PQQ in unredacted form.
  • Defendant to disclose the PQQ evaluation report and scoresheet, with names of other suppliers redacted and replaced by designation letters.