Osborne Clarke successfully represents Metropolitana Milanese S.p.A. before the Regional Administrative Court of Lombardy in proceedings relating to extraordinary maintenance on the Vettabbia canal

Osborne Clarke advised MM S.p.A. in the litigation that arose following the exclusion, by MM S.p.A as contracting authority, of one of the bidders in the tender procedure relating to extraordinary maintenance works on the Vettabbia canal (Milan) with an auction base value of approximately Euro 1.7 million.

The Regional Administrative Court of Lombardy, Milan, accepting in full the defence presented by MM S.p.A - represented by Osborne Clarke with partner Giorgio Lezzi (head of public law and infrastructure services, Italy) and associate Federica Fischetti – confirmed the lawful nature of the decisions taken by MM S.p.A, acknowledging that the offer presented by the excluded bidder did not meet the minimum requisites as provided by the tender regulation.

The ruling is of particular interest, as the administrative court affirmed that the principle of exclusion of an offer due to non-compliance with the minimum requirements also applies in the absence of an express warning of exclusion from the selection procedure in cases in which the tender regulation identifies the quality of the services to be awarded that, with absolute certainty, qualify as minimum characteristics, either because they are expressly defined as such in the regulation itself, or because the description contained in the tender regulation is such as to cause them to emerge as essential qualities of the service in question.