Cyprian Herl
Tales from the National Appeal Chamber: A contractor does not have to submit documents issued by the contracting authority
The number of declarations and documents submitted by contractors during the contract award procedure forced the Parliament to introduce mechanisms to cut red tape. One of the key provisions in this aspect is Art. 26(6) of the Public Procurement Law, the purpose and practical application of which was explained by the National Appeal Chamber in its ruling of 13 March 2020 (KIO 439/20).
Public contracts connected with COVID-19 not subject to the rigours of the Public Procurement Law
The pandemic requires immediate response and rapid launch of solutions for combating the coronavirus and its socio-economic impacts. Thus the Anti-Crisis Act includes provisions allowing contracts for fighting the pandemic to be awarded without following lengthy formal procedures.
Modification of contracts and contractual penalties in public contracts in the face of the pandemic
As a result of the pandemic, many planned and existing contracts have been paralysed. The uncertain situation forces the parties to cease performing contracts or at least poses barriers to performance. In this situation, can they change the contract? Will they have to pay contractual penalties and damages? The Anti-Crisis Act comes to their aid.
European Commission tightens the use of CPV codes
A numbering system known as Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) codes has been in force across the EU since 2008. The system was designed to identify the subject matter of public contracts in various member states and thus encourage contractors from throughout the EU to bid in tenders of interest to them. For years the CPV codes fulfilled this role, but recently it was noted that contracting authorities were increasingly assigning erroneous CPV codes to contracts. Thus the European Commission decided to tighten the CPV code system. Contract announcements assigning erroneous codes will no longer be published on the TED platform (Tenders Electronic Daily supplement to the Official Journal of the EU).