Electronics retailer Dixons Travel currently operates stores in Dublin Airport Terminal 1 and Terminal 2.

In significant breaking news, Dublin Airport Authority (daa) has annulled an electronics tender issued last year for two stores in Dublin Airport Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 amid legal concerns surrounding the procurement process, TRBusiness has learned.

The tender itself was actually issued on 17 October 2017 with a submission deadline of 17 November 2017. TRBusiness can confirm a complaint was subsequently lodged by at least one participant alleging flaws in the tender process.

TRBusiness can also confirm the process was concluded and that unsuccessful bidders were informed the concession had been won by US airport-based electronics retailer InMotion Entertainment Group.

But according to a document seen by TRBusiness earlier this week, daa had concerns over the tender process with ‘communications’ allegedly taking place between a senior executive of InMotion Entertainment Group and a senior executive of Aer Rianta International (ARI), a wholly owned daa subsidiary which runs the retail operations at Dublin Airport.

In a further twist it is understood that two members of the bid evaluation team directly reported to the senior ARI executive in question, who also happens to be a director of InMotion.

The document suggests that InMotion ‘did not communicate exclusively through the Irish Government’s e-tenders procurement website during the process’, which led to daa’s decision not to award the contract and to terminate the competition.

LEGAL CONCERNS

TRBusiness has learned the decision was made after careful consideration relating to various concerns. These include the provision of the tender documents for the competition, the obligations of daa under public procurement law and its commitment to ensure equal treatment of all participants at each stage of the procurement process.

When approached by TRBusiness, daa and ARI said the matter was the subject of High Court legal proceedings and could not comment.

InMotion is yet to offer its own take on the matter having been contacted by TRBusiness.

The actual electronics concession covered around 195sq m of space in Terminal 1 and 80sq m indicative in Terminal 2. The contract was for five years and the incumbent retailer is Dixons Travel, which recently signed a 12-month contract with P&O cruises following a successful trial period, as first reported by TRBusiness.

Total 2016 sales in the Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 stores amounted to around €6.08m ($7.07m) and €5.18m ($6.03m) respectively.

Click here to see the actual tender document which was released last year.

TRBusiness will bring you more as this story develops.

The electronics tender in question encompassed an 80sq m electronics shop Dublin Airport Terminal 2.