| The Jerusalem District Court sitting as the Court for Administrative Matters |
| Administrative Petition 65567-06-23 Nahor Transportation Lines in Tax Appeal v. Ministry of Transport and Road Safety – State of Israel et al.
Exterior Case: |
| Before | The Honorable Judge Avraham Rubin | |
| The Petitioner | Flooding Transportation Lanes in Tax Appeals | |
| Against | ||
| Respondents | 1. Ministry of Transport and Road Safety
2. Egged Holdings in Tax Appeal 3. Superbus Transportation and Sightseeing inTax Appeal 4. Nativ Express – Public Transportation in Tax Appeals 5. Electra Afikim in Tax Appeal 6. Public Transportation Lines in Tax Appeals 7. Momentum Transportation Solutions in Tax Appeal |
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Judgment
- I have before me a petition to cancel the decision of the Tenders Committee of Respondent 1 (hereinafter – the "Ministry of Transport"), dated June 12, 2023, in which it was decided to disqualify the Petitioner's proposal, which was submitted in a competitive proceeding 09/22, which concerned "Obtaining licenses for the operation of service lines in public transportation on buses on the Eshkol lines surrounding the West Jerusalem", and to declare Respondent 2 (hereinafter – "Egged"), as the winner of the said proceeding. Hereinafter, for convenience only, the competitive proceeding will be referred to as a "tender" even though it is not a tender (see in this regard – Appeal Petition/Administrative Claim 7002/19 China Motors v. Ministry of Transport [published in Nevo] (July 7, 2020)). There is no dispute that there was a defect in the Petitioner's proposal, and that from the moment the tenders committee did not permit it to be amended, it justified the disqualification of the proposal. However, the Petitioner argues that this is a non-material defect, which the Ministry of Transport was obligated to allow to be corrected. The Ministry of Transport and Egged claim that this is a material defect that cannot be corrected, and therefore the Petitioner's proposal was disqualified by law.
- The Facts
This is a tender for the selection of a public transportation operator in the area surrounding West Jerusalem. The service required in the tender is the operation of public transportation lines for a period of ten years. The estimated financial scope of the tender is over NIS 2 billion.
As part of the terms of the tender, it was determined that in return for the services provided by the winner of the tender, the Ministry of Transport would pay him a total of NIS 174.24 million per year. As part of the tender, the bidders were required to compete for an addition or discount to this amount. Thus, the bidders were required to state in their financial bid for the tender the amount they are demanding to receive in addition to this amount, or to specify the royalties they are willing to pay to the Ministry of Transport, which will be deducted from this amount.