The High Court ordered costs in favour of KPW Business Forms Limited, trading as KPW Print Management, after a challenge concerning a contract to operate Ireland’s second-level examinations became moot.
In a judgment delivered on 5 March 2019, Mr Justice Max Barrett considered KPW’s application for costs. The underlying proceedings concerned a competition to award the contract. After the case began, the State Examinations Commission (SEC) decided not to award it, and the proceedings became moot.
The SEC’s chief executive had said in an affidavit that the proceedings triggered an automatic stay on the procurement process. The SEC could not award the contract while the stay was in place. The chief executive said the stay might have been challenged, but doing so would have taken time and left insufficient time to implement the proposed system in 2018. The affidavit also said there was no certainty the stay would be lifted or that a decision to lift it would avoid an appeal.
Applying principles identified in the High Court’s 2018 judgment in *MKIA v. IPAT*, Mr Justice Barrett found that the SEC’s decision not to award the contract caused the proceedings to become moot. He said the decision was within the SEC’s control and had a causal connection to the proceedings. The SEC could have made an alternative decision, including going to court, and the court noted that the constrained tendering timetable was of the SEC’s design.
The judgment addressed costs after the proceedings had become moot. It did not decide the merits of the underlying contract challenge. The court ordered costs for KPW.