Ineffective amendments?
Long-awaited amendments intended to streamline regulations concerning public tenders came into effect June 11. One of the key changes in the amendments is the raising of the threshold for the minimum value of a project requiring the government to call a public tender, from E6,000 (zł.22,900) to E14,000 (zł.53,500).
More specifically, of the three types of tender procedures - "simplified," "full" and "strict" - the thresholds for "simplified" and "full" tenders have been raised. For simplified tenders, the lowest-value and least complicated type, the lower limit has been raised to over E14,000, but this is still below EU standards.
The amendment also simplifies the procedure for announcing tenders. The offerer will publish the tender announcement directly on the website of the Public Procurement Office (UZP) instead of having to pass the information through the UZP president's intermediary, as was previously the case. Other changes include a reduction in the amount of time given for bid submission and new regulations on the legal protection of tender participants.
As a means of reducing the number of appeals by companies dissatisfied with a tender verdict - which has bottlenecked many investments - the amendment has increased the value of a tender that can be appealed from E60,000 (zł.229,200) to E137,000 (zł.523,330). In order to facilitate the settling of disputes over tender outcomes, the amendment also establishes the National Chamber of Appeals (Krajowa Izba Odwoławcza), which will start operating in the fall.
Mirosław Barszcz, a public-finance expert from the Sobieski Institute, thinks the amendments will expedite the tender process. He stresses, however, that more radical changes are necessary to make public tenders truly effective and useful. In his view, the public sector needs more flexible and faster solutions, but at the same time they must be more sophisticated.
"If the public sector wants to operate efficiently it should take solutions from private businesses," explains Barszcz.
Such solutions might include the development of an electronic-auction system, which private businesses have been using for a long time. Another idea is the creation of purchase centers for the whole public administration. "For example, if several institutions buy 500 cars at one time, it is much cheaper than each buying five cars separately," says Barszcz.
"We may keep correcting the law but we need to be aware that the roots of the public tender regulation go back to the 19th and 20th centuries," says Barszcz. "We need to change the mindset [of the people who make the law]," he concludes.
