Port public domain

In this case, the Supreme Court (SC) analyzes the conflict that a company had with the port administration because it could not participatein the award of a concession on the port public domain. The company first requested access to the filearguing that it wanted to apply, but in its opinion, certain conditions and the lack of access to information put it at a disadvantagecompared to the other bidders. Therefore, it requested that the selection process be annulledand that its right to challengethe entire tender be recognized. Both the Administration and the company that won the concession argued that this company

had no right to appealbecause it had not even participated in the tender and could not demonstrate direct harm. The High Court ruled in their favorand directly dismissed the appeal of the affected company, precisely due to its lack of participation in the tender. and directly dismissed the appeal of the affected company, precisely because of that lack of participation in the tender.

The company brought the case to the SC, which decidedto review the case due to its general interest for other similar procedures and has ended up establishing asgeneral rule thatit is not mandatory to have participated formally in the processin order to appeal it. However, it is essential to prove that the person or company appealing has aright or legitimate interest truly affected in a direct and concrete way by the disputed award. Each case must be analyzed in detail, but it is not enough to have only a vague or hypothetical impact.

In this specific case, the SCrules in favor of the appealing company and orders the lower court tothoroughly analyze the matter, without being able to reject the appeal solely for lack of participation in the bidding process.