Part 3: Award of public contracts and procedures Debarment Section 65: Debarment decisions: appeals
Subsection (1) provides for a right of appeal for suppliers against a decision to put their name on, or not remove or revise an entry on, the debarment list. Suppliers may also bring an appeal in relation to the date stated in the debarment list on which the Minister expects the exclusion ground to cease to apply to the supplier and a description of the types of contracts where the entry is by virtue of the mandatory exclusion ground for national security threats for particular types of contracts (see paragraph 35 of Schedule 6).
	Subsection (2) states that appeals may only be brought by United Kingdom or treaty state suppliers (as defined in Section 89 (Treaty state suppliers)); may only be brought on the grounds that there has been a material mistake of law (which includes a right to challenge findings of fact in certain circumstances); and must be commenced before the end of the period of 30 days beginning with the day on which the supplier first knew, or ought to have known, about the debarment decision.
	Subsections (3-5) provide that, if the supplier’s appeal is successful, the court may make an order setting aside the Minister’s decision. This means that, rather than substitute its own decision in place of the Minister’s, the Minister’s decision will be overturned, allowing the Minister to retake it in a lawful manner. If, during the appeal, the supplier was excluded from a procurement or other selection process as a result of the decision in question, the court may also award compensation for any costs incurred by the supplier in bidding. Suppliers will not be entitled to lost income or lost opportunity of income and will be expected to mitigate their costs in the usual way.
	Subsection (6) defines some of the terms used in this section.