Court rejects complaint by TX Group about SBB advertising space
The Federal Administrative Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the media company TX Group, which had unsuccessfully applied to use SBB's advertising space. The award to Allgemeine Plakatgesellschaft (APG) was proper.
In 2017, SBB issued a new invitation to tender for the use of third-party advertising space. This involved the transfer of the right to provide, market and manage space for paper posters at railroad stations and digital advertising space. The contract is valid from 2019 for a period of up to ten years, as the Federal Administrative Court wrote in a ruling published on Thursday.
Six companies - including the TX Group - competed for the contract. In November 2017, SBB awarded the contract to APG, against which the losing media company appealed to the Federal Administrative Court.
The judges ruled that the tendering of third-party advertising space was subject to concession law and not to public procurement law. By paying for the space, the successful tenderer would indirectly contribute to the financing of SBB's public tasks.
Scope for selection
For the special use concession, a minimum rent is to be paid irrespective of turnover and an amount dependent on the annual turnover as a percentage. This differs from the constellation that exists in public procurement. According to the Federal Administrative Court, SBB has greater leeway in selecting a concessionaire.
The court rejected the TX Group's complaints. It sees no evidence that information was not passed on equally to all applicants during the renegotiations in the course of the procedure.
Nor had there been any unequal treatment of the same. The award criteria and their weighting had been passed on transparently to everyone. Furthermore, SBB had not unlawfully handled business secrets of the TX Group. The ruling is not yet legally binding and can be appealed to the Federal Supreme Court. (sda.)
