A ruling in the case was made by the Nedre Romerike District Court on 9 February 2018. In view of serious delays and a unilateral cessation of the project, the District Court found that Infor had acted with gross negligence, and Felleskjøpet was awarded NOK 288 million in compensation.
Felleskjøpet is a Norwegian agricultural cooperative that serves as a retailer of agricultural operating equipment. The background to the case lies in Felleskjøpet's procurement of a new ERP system (main system). The new system was to support Felleskjøpet's key work processes and hence ensure a future-oriented and effective operation of the business. The preparatory work for the procurement began in early 2013, and in the spring of 2014 Infor was selected as supplier. The parties entered into a supply agreement based on the State Standard Agreement, SSA-T.
When a tested version of the system was to be delivered in spring 2015, it was discovered that Infor was not on schedule with its deliveries. Following this, several delivery attempts were made but the system did not satisfy the requirements that had been agreed. In the summer of 2015, Infor proposed to draw up a new plan for the delivery of the system. No such plan was ever presented by Infor and the project made little progress throughout the autumn. In November Infor decided – against Felleskjøpet's wishes – to discontinue its work on the project. As the parties had not succeeded in reaching an agreement on how the project could be continued, Felleskjøpet terminated the agreement and went ahead with a new procurement. At the same time, Felleskjøpet initiated a claim against Infor for compensation for the losses they had incurred as a result of the breach of the agreement.
At the time of the termination, the District Court found there were over 200 days of delay, while considerable work still remained for the completion of the system. The District Court ruled that this constituted an essential breach on the part of Infor, which gave Felleskjøpet the right to terminate the agreement. The District Court also regarded Infor's breach of agreement as gross negligence, as a result of which the agreed limitations of liability did not apply. In making this assessment, the District Court highlighted the massive delays but also the fact that Infor had unilaterally chosen to put the project on hold, which the District Court considered a conscious oversight of Felleskjøpet's interests.
Felleskjøpet was compensated for its positive contractual interests, which the District Court assessed at NOK 288 million.