The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) is facing litigation due to an unintentional leak of sensitive price information belonging to a company to four rival businesses during a bidding process. Causeway Geotech Ltd, a firm specialising in ground surveying located in Ballymoney, Co Antrim, has initiated proceedings in the High Court against both ESB and ESB Networks DAC. The company contends that the illicit disclosure will inflict financial harm and sabotage future bidding opportunities.
In April, Causeway initiated legal proceedings for damages, alleging infringements of EU procurement law, breach of confidence, and wrongful interference with both its contract-bound and economic interests. The case, unopposed by the ESB defendants, was moved to the fast track Commercial Court by Causeway’s request on Monday and will revisit in October.
Causeway Geotech Ltd carries out land investigations before construction to manage and minimise ground-associated risks. The company has a workforce of 122 people and operates across Ireland and the UK. It forecasts an annual turnover of £50m by 2030.
According to Paul Dunlop, a director at Causeway, the company was on a shortlist by the ESB for ground investigations. In August 2023, ESB called for bids under the multi-contractor framework deal for site investigation tasks. The confidential and commercially sensitive pricing for the services was contained in Causeway’s tender, as per Dunlop.
However, the ESB disclosed a confidential pricing document named “Causeway.zip”, attached to a message informing Causeway that an initial assessment of responses had been completed, through the eTenders platform on 19th February. ESB alerted Causeway via another eTenders message two days later about the inadvertent disclosure of commercially sensitive information due to a technical glitch. On the same day, ESB suspended the bidding process to facilitate a review and analysis. And by 29th February, ESB disclosed that it was aborting the entire process due to unexpected issues, as pointed out by Mr Dunlop.
When Mr Dunlop asked for clarifications, the ESB eventually admitted that details about Causeway were “accidentally exposed to other contestants involved in this race”. Mr Dunlop communicated to the ESB that this confidentiality infringement had given rivals an unjust head start in future public and private sector tenders, by allowing them to adjust their proposals harmoniously, thereby undermining our competitiveness on an even playing ground.
In response to this, the ESB indicated it believed it could implement ways “to mitigate the risk involved in the procedure”.
Subsequent exchanges transpired between Causeway’s legal representatives and the ESB, which included demanding a compensation plan for the company. Eventually, due to the time limitation for filing cases under EU procurement laws, lawsuits were filed.
Mr Dunlop asserted that the market for ground investigations in Ireland is fairly limited, with a maximum of 12 firms vying for contracts.
He stated that revealing its rates to competitors would likely have substantial repercussions on Causeway’s turnover, profit and margins. It might lead to job cuts, and could potentially jeopardise the survival of the business.