Smart Telecom yesterday lost a High Court attempt to stop RTÉ from awarding the sponsorship contract for the weather forecast to Glanbia.
Remarking that, given the frequency with which the weather forecast predicts dreary weather, the enthusiasm to sponsor the weather "may be surprising", Mr Justice Peter Kelly ruled that RTÉ was not obliged to award the contract to Smart and said a referential bid put forward by Smart in the competition for the contracts earlier this year was not a valid bid.
He held there was no breach of contract on behalf of RTÉ and awarded costs of the proceedings to RTÉ and Glanbia.
The action arose after RTÉ invited sealed bids from four companies for the sponsorship of the weather forecast on all its bulletins. The contract has been held by Eircom for several years but that will expire shortly.
The closing date for the tendering process was 4pm on April 7th last, and the sponsorship deal is due to start in July.
Four parties had expressed an interest in the sponsorship deal, described in court as an excellent business opportunity.
In his judgment, the judge said RTÉ, faced with "such an embarrassment of riches", had decided to accept sealed bids by a certain deadline and all bids were to be opened at the same time. The contract was to be awarded to the highest bidder.
A subsidiary of Smart Telecom, Smart Holdings Ltd, put in a sealed bid and Smart Telecom's chief executive also rang RTÉ and, in what is known as a referential bid, offered 5 per cent on top of the highest bid.
When the bids were opened, RTÉ told Smart Telecom a referential bid was not valid and the only bid from Smart was the one from Smart Holdings which was not the highest bid. The bid from Glanbia was the highest and it was accepted by RTÉ.
The judge said both Smart and Glanbia contended they were the highest bidders for the sponsorship contract. It was clear RTÉ had sought to extract the best price and had committed itself to accepting the highest bid.
Smart Telecom had taken the precaution of making a fixed bid through Smart Holdings.
Mr Justice Kelly said the terms of the RTÉ offer did not permit the making of a referential bid and he held the referential bid by Smart was not a valid one.