Westminster faces fresh legal challenge over £50m parking enforcement contract

Westminster Council’s troubled procurement of a £50m parking enforcement contract took another twist last week after one of the bidders launched a legal challenge over the outcome of the authority’s second procurement process.

The council had intended to award the contract to NSL Services, the existing contractor, at midnight on Thursday (20 May), but rival provider Mouchel stepped in to seek an injunction and damages.

The procurement of the contract had already been blighted by a number of difficulties.

In March this year Westminster had planned to hand the contract to Mouchel under the first procurement process. However, the council was forced to restart the tendering process following an intervention by its in-house legal team.

This was because lawyers had identified a flaw in the contract document, which meant Westminster was using criteria to evaluate price that went beyond those the council had published to the tenderers.

NSL continued to operate the contract under emergency conditions while a new accelerated procurement process was conducted.

But another parking services provider, Apcoa, launched legal action in April, arguing that Westminster had acted unlawfully in the award of contracts for parking enforcement and street management services.

It said that the criteria for the second procurement process – the council raised the qualifying bar in relation to the turnover requirements for bidders – meant it was effectively precluded from competing.

Apcoa claimed it should have either been awarded the original contract or that it should have been compensated for loss of profits.

However, the High Court rejected its application for an interim injunction, with Mr Justice Eady saying that Apcoa’s argument was “unsound in law”. The judge added that the company had failed to demonstrate why damages would not be an adequate remedy.

The latest challenge has seen Mouchel, the winner of the original procurement process, take action over the council’s plan to award the contract to NSL the second time around.

Cllr Colin Barrow, leader of Westminster City Council, said: “We were on the verge of awarding our new parking enforcement contract to NSL Services. This was a very good deal for local taxpayers and if implemented would save them £10m over four years.”

NSL had previously earned an average of £12m a year over the seven years the previous contract lasted. However, the new contract would if it goes ahead be worth only £37.3m over four years.

Barrow claimed that Mouchel’s legal challenge was “unfounded and misconceived”, and predicted that it would be dismissed by the High Court.

Calling on Mouchel to drop the claim, he added: “If they persist on pursuing this course of action it will inevitably cost taxpayers thousands of pounds in officer time and council resources spent defending the claims. This is all the more pressing at a time of planned deep cuts across the public sector.”