The litigation and PPP team of VASS Lawyers successfully challenged the decision of APA Canal S.A. Galati to withhold information with a “public nature” on a public acquisition contract to “extend and rehabilitate water and waste water systems in the towns of Tecuci and Targu Bujor, including the rehabilitation of wells in Galati.”
The value of the November 4, 2013 acquisition contract was RON 64.6 million (approximately EUR 14.5 million), excluding VAT. VASS Lawyers’s client was not identified.
The firm demonstrated to the court the violation of their client’s “fundamental right of access to information related to public funds and their utilization by contracting authorities.” The Bacau Court admitted the claim and asked APA Canal S.A. Galati to provide the qualification documentation, the technical and financial offers submitted by the contracted company, and the actual public acquisition contract signed with it.
According to VASS Lawyers, this favorable decision is an “important step towards increasing the transparency of public acquisitions processes and, automatically, towards an increase in the efficiency with which public funds are managed.”