Court lifts automatic suspension in procurement by Welsh NHS trust of blood establishment computer system

Welsh Blood Service, an operating division of the defendant trust, had claimant MAK Systems Group as its incumbent supplier for blood service records since 2015.

But MAK was ranked third when a procurement took place in October 2024 and the company alleged breaches of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.

It also said winning bidder GPI should have been excluded and that the trust failed to investigate abnormally low tenders and scoring challenges.

Mrs Justice Jefford said in her judgment that MAK's case was that GPI's product did not comply with relevant standards and it would be unlawful for the trust to award it the contract. The trust denied that any such conflict existed.

MAK also argued it would suffer reputational and business damage were it to lose the contract.

But Jefford J noted the new contract would be worth between £320,000 and £1.3m per year, equivalent to between 1% and 5% of MAK's turnover.

She said:“On the face of it, therefore, the contract with the defendant is of somewhere between marginal and minor financial significance to MAK and damages would patently be an adequate remedy.”

Items of evidence intended to show MAK would suffer reputational damage “fall well short of the high threshold [and] amounts to no more than the assertion that the loss of a contract by an incumbent provider is damaging to its reputation.”

The judge dismissed MAK’s argument that it would suffer damage because the contract was prestigious by reason of being let by the NHS.

"If it were right, it would lead to the conclusion that all NHS contracts were particularly prestigious and would provide a reason not to lift the suspension in any case involving an NHS contract,” she said.

Jefford J said there was no justification for an expedited hearing of the whole case.

She said: “I regard damages as an adequate remedy for the claimant and I would lift the suspension and refuse the application for expedition.”

The judge also found that the loss of opportunity for the NHS Trust to introduce the benefits of the new contract within expected timescales was not a loss that could be adequately remedied in damages.

Mark Smulian