Epix Software takes Kirklees Council to court

Jun 26 2009 By Barry Gibson

COUNCIL taxpayers could be stung with a legal bill running to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Software company Epix Systems is taking Kirklees Council to court over what it claims is a “fundamentally flawed” contract tender.

If the Stockport-based company wins, the council will be hit with a bill for more than £400,000.

Epix has installed software that has helped save money for the council’s Building Services which employs more than 600 people to maintain council houses.

However, the company lost out on a contract to overhaul ageing software at the department’s Fartown base last year.

Managing director Stephen Earl said: “We’ve highlighted eight ways in which we feel Kirklees breached procurement law.

“For example, in analysing our tender figures they added a six-figure sum on top before comparing it to other bids. They also compared our price for 250 users with the winning company’s price for 180 users.

“They also had discussions with the winning company during the tendering process which they didn’t have with us.

“Politely, I would describe this behaviour as puzzling.”

On June 19, Epix served papers against Kirklees, claiming the contract tender was “fundamentally flawed”. A date for the High Court case has yet to be set.