## The Principle: Those Who Cause Delays Cannot Penalize for Them
In the performance of public procurement contracts, delay penalties serve to sanction the failure to fulfill contractual obligations on time. However, this mechanism presupposes a fundamental premise: the party invoking penalties must have acted in good faith and must not have contributed to the occurrence of the delay itself.
In the case under analysis, the Contracting Authority claimed penalties for exceeding delivery deadlines, even though a series of obstacles generated by the Authority itself prevented the timely execution of contractual obligations.
## Identified Obstacles
The case file analysis revealed several behaviors by the Contracting Authority that led to or aggravated the delays:
- Creating artificial obstacles in the contract execution process
- Delaying the reception of products without objective and documented reasons
- Lack of genuine cooperation in identifying reasonable solutions for timely contract execution
These elements emerged in the context of circumstances unforeseen by the parties, but which do not fall under force majeure — situations that called for cooperation and flexibility, not contractual rigidity.
## The Central Legal Argument
The Contracting Authority's conduct was incompatible with the principle of good faith and the requirements of contractual balance. In a public procurement contract, both parties have an obligation to cooperate to achieve the contract's purpose. When one party creates or amplifies obstacles to performance, it cannot subsequently invoke those same delays to apply penalties.
Contractual penalties cannot become an instrument for transferring one's own risk or contractual passivity and cannot be applied rigidly without acknowledging one's own conduct.
## The Solution Obtained
The court accepted our arguments and issued a favorable ruling, confirming that the application of penalties must be evaluated in the context of both contracting parties' behavior. While the decision is not final, it establishes an important principle: contractual balance requires mutual responsibility.