Ryanair has criticised the Dublin Airport Authority (daa) for allegedly breaching EU regulations by awarding a €33m contract for Person with Reduced Mobility (PRM) services to OCS without a tender process, despite the company’s significant price increase and subpar performance.
Ryanair accused DAA of failing to uphold their own procurement standards by not seeking alternative quotes or conducting a competitive bidding process for the PRM contract, leading to questions regarding transparency and value for money and demanded the revocation of the OCS contract and the initiation of an open and competitive tender process, as required by EU regulation
Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) stated in response that Ryanair, Aer Lingus, and Air Canada were part of the panel that chose OCS as the provider in 2018, in a market with few alternatives, ensuring the process was legitimate.
Ryanair is likely upset about the impending 25pc increase in OCS service fees, which some suggest is causing them to overstate dissatisfaction to pressure a contract reassessment.
OCS has a seven-year contract with an option to exit after five years; the fee remained constant initially but will rise for the sixth, seventh, and an additional year to account for the pandemic, with increments aligned with inflation as agreed.
Ryanair’s claims of Passenger Reduced Mobility (PRM) service issues, contributing to 400,000 flight delays, are questionable as they report Code 19 for any delay, regardless of the actual cause;
The majority of PRM services are reportedly effective, with high customer satisfaction, especially since improvements post-initial struggles last year.
