Court: Defense ministry broke the law ordering VIP planes

The district court in Warsaw ruled that the PLN 2.5 billion military tender for VIP planes was signed in breach of Polish law. The court upheld the previous decision by the National Appeal Chamber (KIO), a first instance body responsible for the review of appeals concerning public contracts. Still, the verdict does not affect the performance of the contract, as KIO has previously agreed, and the contract is binding. The court explained that the cancellation of the previous tender for medium-sized VIP planes was not enough to buy the machines without calling a new one, as such machines are not a military equipment, and such equipment can be acquired without the tender procedures, “only in special, impossible to predict circumstances of the ordering party.” Poland bought two new and one used B737 planes from Boeing, cancelling the previous tender due to “formal and pricing reasons.”