A court injunction issued this week against a council who awarded a job to an 鈥渁bnormally low鈥� bidder could pave the way for further challenges to so-called suicide bids

Morrison Facilities Services took legal action after losing out on a housing maintenance contract for Norwich council to a 拢17.5m bid from Connaught, having submitted a value of 拢23m.

Hearing the case this week, Mr Justice Arnold said Morrison had a 鈥渟eriously arguable鈥� case that the bid was not evaluated properly, and stopped the contract from being awarded.

Lawyers said this ruling could lead to other contractors taking action against successful public sector bids much lower than their own.

Lindy Patterson, partner in law firm Dundas Wilson, said: 鈥淚n this climate, and with low bids going in, everyone will be looking at why they lost out. We will definitely see more of this.鈥�

Simon Lewis, partner at Dickinson Dees, added that it was also a serious warning for public sector clients to evaluate bids properly. 鈥淚t is a reminder to authorities that they must observe the principle of the 鈥榣evel playing field鈥� when assessing tenders and treat all tenderers fairly.鈥�

The dispute is set to be resolved this summer.

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