CELEX: C2002/084/12
Language: en
Date: 2002-04-06 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 27 November 2001 in Joined Cases C-285/99 and C-286/99 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato): Impresa Lombardini SpA — Impresa Generale di Costruzioni v ANAS — Ente nazionale per le strade, Società Italiana per Condotte d'Acqua SpA (C-285/99), and between Impresa Ing. Mantovani SpA and ANAS — Ente nazionale per le strade, Ditta Paolo Bregoli (C-286/99), intervener: Coopsette Soc. coop. arl (C-286/99) (Directive 93/37/EEC — Public works contracts — Award of contracts — Abnormally low tenders — Detailed rules for explanation and rejection applied in a Member State — Obligations of the awarding authority under Community law)

6.4.2002                EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                               C 84/7
the decision of the Secretary-General of the European Parlia-              concerning the coordination of procedures for the award of
ment of 28 October 1996 imposing on him the disciplinary                   public works contracts (OJ 1993 L 199, p. 54) — the Court
measure of downgrading, the other party to the proceedings                 (Sixth Chamber), composed of: N. Colneric, President of the
being: European Parliament (Agent: H. Krück) — the Court,                  Second Chamber, acting as President of the Sixth Chamber,
composed of: F. Macken, President of the Chamber, N. Colner-               C. Gulmann, J.-P. Puissochet, R. Schintgen (Rapporteur) and
ic, C. Gulmann, J.-P. Puissochet and V. Skouris (Rapporteur),              V. Skouris, Judges; D. Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, Advocate General;
Judges; F.G. Jacobs, Advocate General; H.A. Rühl, Principal                L. Hewlett, Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a
Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on                  judgment on 27 November 2001, in which it has ruled:
27 November 2001, in which it:
1.    Dismisses the appeal;
                                                                           Article 30(4) of Council Directive 93/37/EEC of 14 June 1993
2.    Orders Z to pay the costs.                                           concerning the coordination of procedures for the award of public
                                                                           works contracts must be interpreted as follows:
(1) OJ C 281 of 2.10.1999.
                                                                           —     it precludes a Member State’s legislation and administrative
                                                                                 practice which allow the contracting authority to reject tenders
                                                                                 offering a greater discount than the anomaly threshold as
                                                                                 abnormally low, taking into account only those explanations of
                                                                                 the prices proposed, covering at least 75 % of the basic contract
                                                                                 value mentioned in the contract notice, which tenderers were
                 JUDGMENT OF THE COURT                                           required to attach to their tender, without giving the tenderers
                                                                                 the opportunity to argue their point of view, after the opening
                         (Sixth Chamber)                                         of the envelopes, on those elements of the prices proposed which
                                                                                 gave rise to suspicions;
                      of 27 November 2001
                                                                           —     it also precludes a Member State’s legislation and administrative
in Joined Cases C-285/99 and C-286/99 (reference for a
                                                                                 practice which require the contracting authority to take into
preliminary ruling from the Consiglio di Stato): Impresa
                                                                                 consideration, for the purposes of examining abnormally low
Lombardini SpA — Impresa Generale di Costruzioni v
                                                                                 tenders, only explanations based on the economy of the
ANAS — Ente nazionale per le strade, Società Italiana per
                                                                                 construction method, technical solutions chosen, or exceptionally
Condotte d’Acqua SpA (C-285/99), and between Impresa
                                                                                 favourable conditions available to the tenderer, but not expla-
Ing. Mantovani SpA and ANAS — Ente nazionale per
                                                                                 nations relating to all those elements for which minimum values
le strade, Ditta Paolo Bregoli (C-286/99), intervener:
                                                                                 are laid down by law, regulation or administrative provision or
            Coopsette Soc. coop. arl (C-286/99) (1)
                                                                                 can be ascertained from official data;
(Directive 93/37/EEC — Public works contracts — Award
of contracts — Abnormally low tenders — Detailed rules for
                                                                           —     however, provided all the requirements it imposes are otherwise
explanation and rejection applied in a Member State —
                                                                                 complied with and the aims pursued by Directive 93/37 are
Obligations of the awarding authority under Community
                                                                                 not defeated, it does not in principle preclude a Member State’s
                                 law)
                                                                                 legislation and administrative practice which, in the matter of
                                                                                 identifying and examining abnormally low tenders, first, require
                          (2002/C 84/12)                                         all tenderers, under threat of exclusion from participation in the
                                                                                 contract, to accompany their tender with explanations of the
                    (Language of the case: Italian)                              prices proposed, covering at least 75 % of the basic value of
                                                                                 that contract, and, second, apply a method of calculating the
                                                                                 anomaly threshold based on the average of all the tenders
(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published           received for the tender procedure in question, so that tenderers
                   in the European Court Reports)                                are not in a position to know that threshold at the time they
                                                                                 lodge their file; the result produced by applying that calculation
                                                                                 method must, however, be capable of being reconsidered by the
In Joined Cases C-285/99 and C-286/99: reference to the                          contracting authority.
Court under Article 234 EC) from the Consiglio di Stato (Italy)
for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings pending before that
court between Impresa Lombardini SpA — Impresa Generale
di Costruzioni v ANAS — Ente nazionale per le strade, Società              (1) OJ C 314 of 30.10.1999.
Italiana per Condotte d’Acqua SpA (C-285/99), and between
Impresa Ing. Mantovani SpA and ANAS — Ente nazionale per
le strade, Ditta Paolo Bregoli (C-286/99), intervener: Coopsette
Soc. coop. arl (C-286/99) — on the interpretation of Article
30(4) of Council Directive 93/37/EEC of 14 June 1993