Services / Administrative cases
Appealing a state tender: seven working days
This is measured in working days rather than months. A bidder who waits to see how things develop usually finds the period has gone, and the power to suspend the procurement itself ends once the contract is signed.
Who may appeal, and on what ground
Section 114 of the Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act B.E. 2560 (2017) gives a right of appeal to a person who has submitted a bid to a state agency, where they consider that the agency has not complied with the criteria and methods laid down in the Act, in ministerial regulations, or in regulations or announcements issued under it, and that this caused them not to be announced as the winner or not to be selected as the contracting party.
Seven working days from the announcement
Section 117 requires the appeal to be lodged with that agency within seven working days of the day the procurement result is announced on the information network of the Comptroller General's Department. Two things need to be got right: the unit is working days, and the period runs from the announcement on the network rather than from any individual notification. Watching the system is therefore part of preserving the right.
The timetable on the agency's side
Section 118 requires the agency to consider and decide the appeal within seven working days of receiving it. Where it agrees with the appeal it must act on that view within the same period, and where it disagrees in whole or in part it must promptly report its opinion with reasons to the Appeals Committee under section 119 within three working days of the expiry of that period.
Complaints, a route distinct from appeals
Section 43(2) gives the Appeals Committee the function of considering complaints that a state agency has not acted in accordance with the approach laid down by the Act, ministerial regulations or regulations issued under it. That route is separate from the section 114 appeal, which is tied to a bidder not being announced the winner. The lodging and consideration of complaints follow regulations prescribed by the Minister.
The power to suspend, and the signature cut-off
The last paragraph of section 43 provides that where a complaint under subsection (2) is made out and the agency is found not to have complied with the Act, ministerial regulations or regulations issued under it, the Appeals Committee may order the procurement suspended — except where the procurement contract has already been signed. That closing exception is why speed matters more at the outset than a perfectly assembled file.
PREPARE
What to bring
- The tender documents and the full invitation notice
- The bid as submitted, with proof of submission
- The date and time the result appeared on the CGD network
- Where the agency is said to have departed from the rules
- Whether the contract has yet been signed
QUESTIONS
Questions this raises
I only learned the result several days after it was posted.
Section 117 fixes the starting point at the day the result is announced on the Comptroller General's Department network, not the day the bidder learns of it. Anyone taking part in a procurement should treat watching the system as their own responsibility, and record the date and time of the announcement as soon as it is seen, since that is the date the whole timetable counts from.
What if the contract has already been signed?
The power to suspend under the last paragraph of section 43 is expressly subject to the exception where the procurement contract has been signed. Signature therefore closes off suspension as a remedy, and what remains takes a different form. This is why meeting the seven working days carries more weight than the figure alone suggests.
LAW
The legislation
- Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act B.E. 2560 (2017), section 114
- Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act B.E. 2560 (2017), section 117
- Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act B.E. 2560 (2017), section 118
- Public Procurement and Supplies Administration Act B.E. 2560 (2017), section 43
ENQUIRIES
