The selection stage of any procurement exercise is fraught with difficulties, and following the Lianakis judgment it is more important than ever that contracting authorities undertake fully compliant evaluations of the submissions received at the pre-qualification stage.

This event will look in depth at the various qualifications, technical criteria, economic and financial information, quality standards, reference material and other information that can be asked for at the selection stage and will put these criteria into context with various UK legal judgments.

The implementation of effective evaluation at the pre-qualification stage of any procurement has become more important than ever in ensuring that procurement practices remain legally compliant.

Following various cases in the Court of Justice of the European Union and the UK courts, disclosure of evaluation methodologies to suppliers and scrutiny of selection criteria have become standard practice.

EC Public Procurement Directive 2004/18 and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) make issues surrounding the evaluation process far more transparent to suppliers and other interested parties.

In addition, the risk of challenge under the EU Remedies Directive means that contracting authorities need to get their processes right from the outset.