Public Contracts Regulations 2015 - Regulation 92

Regulation 92 - General time limits for starting proceedings

Regulation 92 marks the start of the general remedies section applicable to public contracts tendered in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. This first Regulation is focused on the general time limits for starting proceedings in all situations except those seeking a declaration of ineffectiveness (these will be treated in Regulation 93).

As a general rule, economic operators have 30 days after the date the economic operator first knew or ought to have known (paragraph 2). For the purposes of this Regulation, “knowing” depends on a number of different factors from the information passed by the contracting authority to the means used by it.

The specific rules determining the start of the 30 day period are contained in paragraphs 3 to 5. As before, the start of the period depends on the date the decision notice was sent to the economic operator (not its receipt). Furthermore, the number of days appended to the proceedings - 10 or 15 days - depends as well on the information contained within and its transmission method.

Paragraph 4 authorises the Court to extend the time limits in this Regulation if there is a good reason to do so. Paragraph 5 restricts the  maximum extension to 3 months from the date the economic operator “knew or ought to have known” of the existence of grounds for the proceedings.