A bidder received notice of non-winning of the tender and only after nearly two months in which it conducted correspondence with the municipality did it moved the Court seeking to cancel the tender.
The Court rejected the petition due to delay and held that an attempt to exhaust the proceedings does not stop the race for delay. A bidder wishing to object to tender proceedings is obligated to act without delay and submit its petition no later than forty-five days from the date the decision was duly published, or from the date it received notice of it, or from the date it became aware of it, whichever is earlier. Reaching out for the purpose of receiving the tender documents and correspondence in this matter, as well as correspondence regarding contentions against the tender or a request for reconsideration and even the willingness of the Authority to examine a such contentions regarding defects in its conduct, do not stop the race for delay. A delay may harm the functioning of the public authority, the general public that uses the services in which the tender is addressed, the interests of the other participants in the tender and the parties with whom they contracted for the purposes of the tender. Here, the petition was filed 58 days after the notice of non-winning and 52 days after receiving the tender material as requested by the bidder, due to attempts by the bidder to exhaust the proceedings vis-à-vis the municipality. In these circumstances, the bidder acted with considerable delay and its petition was rejected for that reason.