Tender evaluation restraint limits judicial review where bid security format compliance is assessed by the tendering authority.

Judicial review of tender evaluation is limited to illegality, irrationality, procedural impropriety, arbitrariness, mala fides, bias, or perversity, and courts must ordinarily defer to the tendering authority's interpretation of its own bid conditions. In infrastructure contracts, restraint is especially important because interference can delay public works and increase costs. Applying that standard, the evaluation committee's view that a bidder's bank guarantee did not conform to the prescribed bid security format, and its acceptance of the successful bidder's technical bid, did not disclose manifest illegality. The High Court's interference was therefore unwarranted, and the award of the contract to the appellant was upheld.

---

---

Issues: Whether the High Court was justified in interfering with the tender evaluation and setting aside the award of the infrastructure contract on the ground of alleged non-compliance with the bid security format.

Analysis: Judicial review in tender matters is confined to examining illegality, irrationality, procedural impropriety, arbitrariness, mala fides, bias, or perversity. The employer or author of the tender document is ordinarily the best judge of the tender conditions and their interpretation, and courts must exercise restraint and avoid substituting their own view for that of the expert tendering authority. In infrastructure projects, undue interference may delay public works, cause escalation of costs, and harm public interest. On the facts, the tender evaluation committee's decision that the bidder's bank guarantee did not conform to the prescribed format and its acceptance of the successful bidder's technical bid did not disclose manifest illegality warranting judicial interference.

Conclusion: The High Court's interference was unwarranted and the award of contract to the appellant could not be quashed; the challenge to the appellant's selection failed.

---