A businessman who unsuccessfully tendered for a government contract has had his doleance claim dismissed.

Richard Christian’s claim follows a tender process that began in 2016 for the provision of fire extinguisher servicing.

The tender was awarded in December of that year to a company called Walker Fire (UK) Ltd which was assessed to be the best bid by some length, the high court heard.

Mr Christian, whose tender came fourth out of the five bids submitted, lodged an appeal with the Treasury Audit Division but this was refused in January 2017.

He then began small claims proceedings for financial loss arising from alleged breaches of government financial regulations. That claim is ongoing.

After the contract was awarded, a significant issue arose concerning the number of government owned properties to which it should apply. It emerged that 378 properties in fact required servicing, as opposed to the 232 specified in the invitation to tender.

The DoI said the additional servicing could be dealt with as a separate contract and given the value need not be dealt with by way of full procurement and tender process.

But Mr Christian believes the department had breached Treasury financial regulations ’on multiple occasions’, in supplying work outside of those regulations.

He lodged a petition of doleance to overturn the tender process.

But he did not issue proceedings until October last year, well beyond the three months limit for making a doleance claim.

Deemster Andrew Corlett said he had no alternative but to dismiss the doleance claim.

He said the three month limit could be extended in exceptional circumstances but he was quite convinced that this is not one of those exceptional cases.

Deemster Corlett said: ’This is not a matter of genuine public importance.

’Essentially it is a private claim made by a person who unsuccessfully tendered for a government contract. No good reason has been adduced for the delay.’

He said the maximum three-month period is imposed for good reason and is particularly relevant in tendering exercises when third parties are awarded contracts.

’Obviously in the area of public works projects, and particularly it may be said in the area of fire safety, the successful tenderer needs to start fulfilling its contractual obligations and needs to know that it is secure from legal challenge at the earliest opportunity,’ he explained.

The Deemster said alleged failure to comply with tender document requirements could not form the basis of a successful legal challenge as this was a contractual matter the DoI were entitled to agree with Walker (Fire) UK Ltd.