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The facts behind the dispute are set out in paragraphs 1 to 22 of the judgment under appeal as follows: ‘1. By contract notice published in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union on 7 August 2012 (OJ 2012/S 61-150-249926), the European Commission launched a tendering procedure under reference AGRI‑2012-PEI‑01 seeking to establish a network facility for the implementation of the European Innovation Partnership “Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability” (“the tendering procedure”). 2. Under Section 1 of the tender specifications for the contract (“the tender specifications”), the contractor was to assist in the establishment and management of the partnership network, consisting of and open to actors dealing with innovation and innovative actions related to the agricultural sector, such as farmers, researchers, advisors, businesses, NGOs, consumers and public bodies. The contractor was responsible for the setting up and functioning of the network facility, consisting of the team established by it to perform the tasks listed in the contract notice and the physical location where the team would work and provide services (“the InfoPoint”). 3. The tasks to be performed by the contractor were described in Section 2 of the tender specifications. There were nine main tasks: (1) managing the team allocated to the tasks and the InfoPoint; (2) animation of the partnership network; (3) networking and the development of communication tools; (4) updating and maintaining an exhaustive database; (5) maintaining a list of external experts; (6) coordination and information exchange activities; (7) compiling research needs from actors working in the field; (8) development of the annual work programme; and (9) archiving, stock management and backup of documents and information. The tender specifications set out the minimum staffing levels required to perform the main tasks and, to that end, stated that the team allocated to the tasks had to be composed of at least 10 “Full Time Equivalents”, of whom at least 6 had to be fixed staff. 4. The tender specifications also provided for 27 additional tasks to be performed at the request of the Commission in any given year, at the rate of between 3 and 10 tasks per year. Additional tasks 24, 26 and 27 as a minimum would be requested in the first year. The additional tasks covered the organisation of focus groups, namely groups of experts who would examine and discuss questions specifically concerning the European Innovation Plan (additional tasks 1 to 6); the organisation of additional workshops (additional tasks 7 to 9); the organisation of field days (additional tasks 10 to 13); the organisation of additional seminars (additional tasks 14 to 17); assessment of the work of the operational groups (additional tasks 18 to 20); the organisation of conferences (additional task 21); the organisation of travel and accommodation arrangements for participants of the focus groups, workshops and seminars (additional task 22); missions to Member States (additional task 23); drawing up a list of experts (additional task 24); winding up InfoPoint (additional task 25); setting up InfoPoint (additional task 26); and the mapping of all relevant projects for the purpose of establishing a database (additional task 27). 5. According to the provisions of the tender specifications, the contractor also had to have sufficient staff so that, in addition to the main tasks, the team allocated to the tasks would be able to perform the activities under additional tasks 24 and 27, which were scheduled for performance in the first year of the contract. 6. Under Section 6 of the tender specifications, the contract was to be concluded for a term of 10 months, with the possibility of renewal for a maximum of 12 months. The total maximum budget was stated to be EUR 2500000 per year for the combined performance of the main tasks and the additional tasks, the maximum annual budget being EUR 1400000 for the main tasks and EUR 1500000 for the additional tasks. 7. Pursuant to Section 7.5 of the tender specifications, the contract procedure involved three stages: (1) the examination of tenders based on the exclusion criteria, followed by their examination based on the selection criteria; (2) the evaluation of tenders based on the award criteria (quality evaluation and price evaluation); and (3) the award of the contract to the tender offering best value for money. The exclusion, selection and award criteria applied by the Commission were set out in Section 9 of the tender specifications. 8. The Commission received five tenders, including that submitted by the [appellant]. All tenderers passed the first stage of the contract procedure, involving the examination of their tender based on the exclusion and selection criteria, and were admitted to the second stage, involving the evaluation of the tenders based on the following four award criteria: – award criterion 1: approach towards the link between science and practice; – award criterion 2: approach towards the performance of the main and additional tasks; – award criterion 3: practical organisation of the tasks; – award criterion 4: proposed set-up of the InfoPoint based in Brussels (Belgium). 9. At the second stage of the procedure, only two tenderers, in this case the [appellant] and Vlaamse Landmaatschappij (“VLM”), obtained the minimum score required by the tender specifications for the award criteria. Those two tenderers were therefore admitted to the price evaluation stage. The price offered by the [appellant] was EUR 1 320 112.63, whilst that offered by VLM was EUR 2 316 124.83. 10. The record of the meeting of the evaluation committee held on 20 November 2012 shows that the [appellant] was ranked in first place and that, since the committee had concerns about the abnormally low nature of the tender, it decided to request information from the [appellant] concerning the prices for the additional tasks. 11. By letter of 22 November 2012, the Commission informed the [appellant] that the evaluation committee had found the prices stated for the additional tasks to be abnormally low. It asked the [appellant] for detailed explanations on the calculation of the prices offered for additional tasks 1 to 21 and 25, stating that the tender could be rejected if the explanations proved unconvincing. 12. The [appellant] replied to the Commission’s request for information by letter of 29 November 2012, in which it provided general explanations and a list of the costs used to draw up its proposed prices for the additional tasks. 13. It is apparent from the final record of evaluation of the [appellant’s] tender of 19 December 2012 that the evaluation committee considered the [appellant’s] explanations and found, in particular, that there was an overlap of staff between the main tasks and the additional tasks, which did not comply with the requirements of the tender specifications. It therefore lowered the score given to the [appellant’s] tender for award criterion 3 from 11.8 points to 7 points, the minimum required score being 7.5 out of 15. The evaluation committee therefore completed its evaluation by confirming its opinion that the [appellant’s] tender was abnormally low and by finding that, based on the additional information provided by the [appellant], its tender no longer reached the minimum score required by the tender specifications under award criterion 3. The committee therefore recommended that the contract be awarded to VLM. 14. By letter of 25 March 2013, the Commission notified the [appellant] that its tender had not been successful because it had failed to reach the minimum score required for award criterion 3 and had been found to be abnormally low as regards the prices offered for the performance of some additional tasks. On the same day, the Commission decided to award the tender to VLM. 15. By letter of 26 March 2013, the [appellant] requested the name of the successful tenderer as well as the characteristics and advantages of its tender. The Commission forwarded that information to the [appellant] by letter of 27 March 2013. 16. By letter of 29 March 2013, the [appellant] asked the Commission for further information concerning the evaluation of its own tender. The Commission replied by letter of 10 April 2013. 17. By letter of 12 April 2013, the [appellant] criticised the contracting authority for failing to provide the necessary clarifications concerning the evaluation of the first and second criteria, for altering its technical assessment after the financial tender had been opened, for incorrectly assessing the involvement of the team leader and his assistant in the additional tasks, and for reaching the wrong conclusions regarding VLM’s tender. 18. By email sent on the same day, the [appellant] applied to the Commission for access to the records of the evaluation committee and to the contractor’s tender, on the basis of Article 6 of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents (OJ 2001 L 145, p. 43). 19. By an initial letter of 29 April 2013, the Commission informed the [appellant] that the record of the evaluation committee would be forwarded to it promptly. By a second letter of the same date, the Commission replied to the [appellant’s] application for access by sending it partial copies of the record of evaluation of 20 November 2012, the record of final evaluation of its tender of 19 December 2012 and the overall record of evaluation of 6 February 2013. By contrast, the Commission refused to send it the contractor’s tender and to that end invoked the protection of the commercial interests of the undertaking concerned, based on the first indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation No 1049/2001. 20. By email of 13 May 2013, the [appellant] submitted a confirmatory application for access under Article 7 of Regulation No 1049/2001. By email of 14 May 2013, the Commission acknowledged receipt of that confirmatory application and stated that it would reply within 15 working days. 21. By a further letter of 13 May 2013, the [appellant] objected to the Commission’s position set out in the second letter of 29 April 2013, which it considered to be insufficient. By letter of 31 May 2013, the Commission replied that the [appellant] was in possession of all the documents concerning the contract procedure on which the award decision was based and also referred to its letter of 29 April 2013. 22. As regards the confirmatory application for access, by letter of 4 June 2013, the Commission told the [appellant] that the deadline for replying had been extended to 26 June 2013. On 26 June 2013, the Commission informed the [appellant] that it was unable to reply to the confirmatory application for access by the abovementioned deadline. By email of 4 July 2013, the [appellant] asked for a reply to its confirmatory application for access. The Commission answered that email on 9 July 2013, informing the undertaking that the reply would be sent to it within a few days. The Commission replied to the [appellant’s] confirmatory application by letter of 17 July 2013, in which it confirmed its earlier decision not to disclose some of the information contained in the evaluation records and not to grant access to the contractor’s tender, pursuant to Article 4(1)(b) and the first indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation No 1049/2001.’