JCC loses final appeal over government payments contract

Cyprus has concluded a four-year tender process for the management of government electronic payment services, awarding the contract to VivaBank after a lengthy series of legal challenges and appeals.

According to a report from Philenews, a decision by the Tenders Review Authority highlighted the unusually long procurement process and dismissed the latest legal challenge against the award.

The electronic payment service has been managed by JCC Payment Systems Ltd since 2010, allowing citizens and businesses to make online payments, including card payments, for a wide range of government services.

These transactions include the payment of direct taxes and outstanding obligations to the state, vehicle licence renewals, social insurance contributions, traffic fines and other fixed penalties, as well as various government fees.

JCC has also been widely used by the public to pay municipal charges, including sewerage fees, water supply bills and immovable property charges.

According to the Tenders Review Authority’s decision, the tender for the provision of electronic transaction processing services for the government was launched on January 7, 2022, but required almost four years to reach completion.

The authority pointed to the prolonged duration of the procedure while examining the latest appeal lodged in relation to the procurement.

The tender process was marked by a succession of appeals before the Tenders Review Authority, with some being upheld and others rejected.

The latest appeal, decided on July 15, 2026, was dismissed, paving the way for the award to proceed.

The contract was ultimately awarded to VivaBank Single-Member Banking Company S.A.

The winning bid amounted to €3.92 million for the first part of the contract and €172,942 for the second.

By comparison, JCC Payment Systems Ltd had submitted bids of €4.45 million for the first part and €522,821 for the second.

JCC sought the annulment of the award decision on ten separate grounds after the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder.

However, the Tenders Review Authority rejected every argument put forward by the company, concluding that none were sufficiently substantiated.

The authority’s decision states that all grounds for annulment were dismissed as unfounded and unsupported.

The contract has a total duration of 67 months, equivalent to approximately five and a half years.

This includes one month allocated to technical preparations for integration with the Ariadne Payment Gateway and between four and six months for completing the connection to the same system.

The core electronic transaction processing services will be provided for 36 months from the start of the contract’s implementation.

The original tender also included options for two successive 12-month contract extensions.

The decision also refers to the multiple legal challenges brought by bidders throughout the procurement process.

Following three annulment decisions issued during the course of the procedure, the contracting authorities sought a legal opinion from the Law Office before proceeding further.

According to the Tenders Review Authority, the Tenders Board reviewed all new evidence and information before deciding at its meeting on March 20, 2026 to award the contract to VivaBank.

The authority said VivaBank had succeeded Viva Payments Services S.A., whose bid had previously been identified as offering the best value for money.

After being informed of that decision, JCC lodged another appeal on April 8, 2026, which it ultimately lost.

The procurement process had, at one stage, also faced the possibility of being cancelled because of the significant amount of time that had elapsed since the tender was launched.

The authorities examined whether the delay itself justified cancelling the procedure, given that both market conditions and financial data had changed over the intervening years.

Despite the drawn-out procurement process, electronic payments have become increasingly widespread in Cyprus, with citizens, particularly younger generations, relying more heavily on digital services to complete transactions with the public sector, reflecting a broader international shift towards online government services.