THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening to take the Government to court over its award of a multimillion-euro interpretation service to US firm Lionbridge Language Services.
This week Brussels sent a final written warning to the Department of Justice arguing that it changed the rules of a competition for the contract during the tender process. It asked the department to explain why it applied the award criteria in a different way than stated in the tender documents.
"The commission considers that by modifying the emphasis between the award criteria following the submission and an initial review of the bids, Ireland has failed to fulfil its obligations under the principles of equal treatment and transparency," it said in a "reasoned opinion" letter to the Irish authorities.
Lionbridge Language Services has been paid €1.9 million under the terms of the contract for providing interpretation services to the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, and the Reception and Integration Agency.
The commission began its investigation after receiving a complaint from a rival firm.
A Government spokesman said it was aware of the commission's concerns but the department was satisfied that it had honoured its obligations in conducting its procurement process. He said the department was happy to engage further on the issue.
If the commission is not satisfied with the response from the Irish authorities, the next step in the infringement procedure is to take the State to Europe's highest court, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg.