Court Quashes Government’s US Postal Deal
The Supreme Court has ruled in favour of Mailboxes Unlimited Limited, quashing the Government’s decision to enter into a shipping partnership between the Bermuda Post Office and Access USA Shipping LLC.
The ruling said, “Mailboxes had sought judicial review of the decision of the Minister to enter into a shopping platform partnership involving the Bermuda Post Office [BPO] and an entity described as Access USA Shipping LLC [AUSA], and which appears connected to ‘myUS.com’ and the procurement procedures relating thereto..”
It added that the Court issued a judgment in 2023 “where it was declared that it was unlawful for the Minister to enter into the Partnership, with respect to a failure to follow a procurement process” and “the Minister appealed to the Court of Appeal” and in 2024, the Court of Appeal “issued its Judgment dismissing the Minister’s appeal.”
“The matter now appears before the Court to consider the issue of prohibition and certiorari,” the document said.
The ruling, from Chief Justice Larry Mussenden, concluded by saying, “I have made the following orders:
- a. An order of certiorari quashing the Decision to execute such contract that has been entered into to give effect to the Partnership, such order effective on the date of this Judgment;
- b. An order of prohibition restraining the Minister from continuing the Partnership, such order stayed until 90 days from the date of this Judgment [and Order of the same date].”
The ruling added that “there should be some leeway to avoid disruption of the service” and a “reasonable time period should be granted to allow a proper procurement process to be undertaken and a new or existing service provider to be put in place,” and granted a 90 day time period from the date of this Judgment before the order of prohibition is given effect.
The full ruling is available here [PDF].
