Luxembourg, 24/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - The Court of First Instance of the EU will hear the parties in the Capgemini case on 2 February (see EUROPE of 18 January, p.18). Capgemini Nederland called on the Court to cancel the contract between the European Commission and a group of IT companies led by Steria France and HP Belgium to set up a new Schengen information system (SIS II) and one on visas (VIS). The sum of the contract was for 40 million EUR and, according to experts, promises “fall-out” in the shape of annex contracts in the Member States.
The IT experts of the companies chosen had to stop work on 18 November, when the Court President Bo Vesterdorf suspended the execution of the contract, against the wishes of the Commission. If there is no decision to the contrary, which is unlikely, from Vesterdorf, the contract will not be executed until the European court returns its final verdict. Capgemini is calling for the contract to be cancelled and a new call for tenders launched, as the previous one, it claimed, was beset with irregularities.
The ruling on the substance will be returned in several months or a few weeks, because Capgemini's request for the European court to use the so-called accelerated procedure was granted (it would normally have taken between two and four years). The new IT systems must be ready by late 2006 (SIS II) and late March 2007 for VIS.