All questions
The bidding process
i Notice
Information on public procurement procedures and concluded contracts has to be published in: (1) the EU Official Journal for procurements with value equal or above the certain thresholds; (2) the PPR; and (3) the buyer’s profile. In addition, contracting authorities and entities can announce publicly by notice the public contracts they intend to award throughout the next 12 months.
ii Procedures
Based on the forecast amount of the public contract, the public contracts are awarded through: (1) a procedure for the award of a public contract; (2) collecting proposals with an advertisement or an invitation to certain persons; or (3) directly, without applying a public procurement procedure (only if the relevant conditions allowing direct awarding are met).
The 2016 PPA defines 13 types of procedure for public contracts awarding. Generally, the open procedure and the restricted procedure can be chosen regularly, while other procedures can be applied only subject to existence of certain conditions. Competitive dialogue is a procedure that can be used both by classic and defence and security contracting authorities as well as sectoral entities.
Some procedures are specifically envisaged to be used only by contracting authorities (e.g., competitive procedure with negotiation), while others are reserved specifically for the utility contracting entities (e.g., negotiations without preliminary call for competition).
Under the 2016 PPA, awarding authorities are allowed to use electronic auctions and electronic catalogues. Electronic auctions are possible under the open or restricted procedure, competitive procedure with negotiation, negotiation procedure with prior call for competition, public competition and public call for invitation, as well as in awarding public contracts in a dynamic purchasing system (DPS).
Electronic auctions are not applicable for service contracts and public construction contracts, those related to intellectual activity, including construction design activities, and those that cannot be evaluated automatically by electronic means.
The DPS is applied for commonly used purchases, the basic characteristics of which satisfy the contracting authority’s requirements.
Electronic catalogues are usually used along with framework agreement and dynamic purchasing system.
Design contests are used usually in spatial planning, architecture, engineering activities and data processing, by way of which the contracting authority acquires a plan or design after selection held by an independent jury. These procedures can be conducted with or without prizes or payments to participants. The contests are followed by a negotiated procedure to award the public contract.
iii Amending bids
Generally, the participants are allowed to modify their bids freely (including with respect to the bid consortium members and subcontractors) prior to the expiry of the term for submission of the bids. Upon the submission of the bids, amendments thereof would be admissible in certain cases only taking into account also the type of procurement procedure.
In open or restricted procedures, participants are generally not allowed to change bids upon submission. This change would be possible only if during its review of compliance with the selection criteria (qualitative selection), the contracting authority or entity: (1) established omission, ambiguity or non-compliance with the selection criteria envisaged in the tender documentation; and (2) has provided an additional term to the participant to remedy the discrepancy. Change of bids at a stage of a public procurement procedure where those were already assessed should not be permissible.
