Firm takes legal challenge over award of Garda translation service

A translation service has brought a legal challenge to the Garda Commissioner’s decision to award a contract for supply of language interpretation services to a number of rivals.

It is claimed one of those rivals is a company involving Natalia Cotova, who is either the wife or civil partner of Garda Mick Byrne, a son of the former Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne.

The contract is worth some €5m over four years, it was stated in documents to the Commercial Court.

Gardaí require interpreters when dealing with non-English speakers and the force had used Word Perfect Translation Services since 2007 on terms including under a Department of Justice and Law Reform framework agreement for such services, the court heard

In affidavits, Word Perfect’s chief operation officer, Agim (Jimmy) Gashi said there were a number of serious flaws in the tender process which led to the contract being awarded to his firm’s rivals.

The Department of Justice framework, under which the service was previously provided, was a very competitive way of procuring services and ensured the best available price is obtained for the State and this contrasted with how the Garda Commissioner is currently procuring services, he said.

The current process did not involve a competitive process and resulted in the payment of “over-inflated and historic prices”, he added.

The case was admitted to the Commercial Court by Mr Justice Brian McGovern on consent between the parties.

Word Perfect says in awarding the contract to the rivals, the Garda Commissioner failed to comply with EU regulations and general EU law including by failing to provide adequate reasons for the decision to select the preferred bidders.

It is also claimed there was a failure to treat all bidders equally and that Word Perfect was discriminated against. The contract was awarded taken in breach of Word Perfect’s legitimate expectation, it is claimed.