Public Contracts Regulations 2015 - Regulation 96

Regulation 96 - Interim orders

This Regulation enables the Court to make interim orders while the main judicial procedure is taking place and before the final decision is produced. This is valid for first instance court cases and I suspect for appeals as well.

As for the interim orders that the Court may issue, there are essentially three types. As the first one, the Court may either annul, restore or modify the standstill ban imposed by Regulation 95(1) on contract signing and performance. the Court may as well decide to impose an interim order with similar effects, although it cannot do so before the end of the standstill period.

Additionally, the Court may as well suspend the procedure leading to the award of the contract or the determination of the design contest in case a breach of Regulations 89/90 duty towards EEA/GPA economic operators is alleged. Although neither framework agreements nor dynamic purchasing systems are not mentioned explicitly I suppose (and please correct me) that those would be covered as well under a wide interpretation of "contract".

The final type of interim order is a sort of a "catch all" allowing the Court to suspend the implementation of any decision/action by the contracting authority, implying that any decision taken during a public procurement procedure can be suspended.

As an example of an interim order which was kept under the old Public Contracts Regulations 2006, there is the recent Bristol Missing Link Ltd v Bristol City Council [2015 EWHC 866 (TCC).