The Cabinet agreed amendments to the Law on Government Procurement that transpose the recommendations of Directive 2014/24/EU, IPN reports. According to the Ministry of Finance, a more complex government procurement regulatory framework is instituted, but this is also more applicable because it offers clarity as to a number of notions and concepts.
The contracting authority, before initiating the assignment procedure, will have the right to organize market consultations by communicating with independent experts, public authorities or economic operators or representative organizations of these on condition that the communication does not affect the fair competition environment.
Electronic instruments will be introduced to facilitate electronic communication in the procurement system. There will be introduced the European Single Procurement Document that is supplied electronically by using the standard format set by the European Commission. It a self-declaration of the businesses’ financial status, abilities and suitability for a public procurement procedure.
The bill develops the durable procurement concept by introducing the term “cycle of life” and sets down new types of procurement procedures, such as procurement of social and other specific services, partnerships for innovation and the electronic catalogue as a special assignment modality to facilitate the electronic procurement.
The representatives of civil society that took part in the debates on the draft law approved of the bill. However, they suggested supplementing Article 43 with the following clause: “The government procurement file is a public document and this can be offered, at request, to any interested person when the procurement procedure is completed. Limitation of access to the government procurement file can take place only based on the legislation on the state secret or on the commercial secret.” According to them, this provision will ensure transparency in public procurement.
