Procedures for awarding contracts in Poland

 
Law firm in Poland with experience in public tender matters in Poland.

Basic procedures for awarding of public contracts in Poland are the open procedure, as well as the restricted procedure. The contracting authority has hereby the right to choose freely between the open or restricted procedure.

The contracting authority may apply the following types of procedures for awarding of public contracts only in legally approved cases:

 

  • negotiated procedure with publication of notice,
  • negotiated procedure without publication of notice,
  • competitive dialogue,
  • single-source procurement procedure,
  • request for quotations procedure,
  • procedure in the form of an electronic auction.

The „contract documents/specifications“ created by the contracting authority (Polish: specyfikacja istotnych warunków zamówienia) are the most important documents in a public contract award procedure in Poland, the contents of which allows contractors to submit appropriate bids.

The contracting authority is obligated to prepare „contract documents/specifications“ in the following procedures: open and restricted procedure, negotiated procedure with and without notice publication, request for quotations procedure and in the competitive dialogue.

Contacts with the contracting authority

The Polish Procurement Law Act provides that the contracting authority – after the publication of the notice in the Polish Public Procurement Bulletin or in the Official Journal of the European Union dedicated to European public procurement – may directly inform companies well-known to him, which provide supplies, services or construction works being the subject of the contract to be awarded, about the beginning of the respective procurement procedure, i.e. by telephone, fax or E-Mail.

The reasons for the introduction of this legal provision are that even medium-sized companies, who do not necessarily receive information about the introduction of procurement procedures from bulletins, should have the opportunity to participate in procurement procedures.

This opens up new ways even to mid-sized companies from all over Europe to turn already in advance of scheduled tenders to the contracting authority in Poland to present their products and services. Only then, the Polish contracting authority has the opportunity to inform such companies with headquarters in Europe directly over launch a tender procedure.

Open procedure in Poland

Definition  

  • a procurement procedure, in which any interested economic operator may submit a tender,
Notice  

    • publication of the notice in a place which is accessible to the public in the registered seat of the contracting authority and on its website in the Polish language,

      • publication of the notice in the Polish Public Procurement Bulletin – in procurement cases, where the value of the public contract is less than the European Threshold Amounts,

      • sending of the notice to the Publications Office of the European Union and publication in the TED (Tenders Electronic Daily – ‚Supplement to the Official Journal‘) – in procurement cases, where the value of the public contract is equal to or exceeds the European Threshold Amounts,
      Specifications of the procedure  

      • available on the website of the contracting authority from the day, on which the notice is published in the Polish Public Procurement Bulletin or published in the Official Journal of the European Union dedicated to European public procurement until the expiry of the time limit for receipt of tenders,
      Time-limit for receipt of tenders  

      • where the value of the public contract is less than the European Threshold Amounts – in case of public supply and service contracts – the time limit shall not be less than 7 days from the day, on which the notice is published in the Polish Public Procurement Bulletin, and in case of public works contracts – not less than 14 days,
      • where the value of the public contract is equal to or exceeds the European Threshold Amounts – the time limit for receipt of tenders shall not be less than: 40 days from the day of sending of the notice to the Publications Office of the European Union by electronic means with the use of the form and procedures published on the website referred to in the appropriate European Directive, or 47 days from the day of sending of the notice to the Publications Office of the European Union, in other way than mentioned before,
      Documents  

      • obligation for the economic operator (bidder) to attach to his tender a declaration of satisfaction of the conditions for participation in the procurement procedure,
      • where the value of the public contract is equal to or exceeds the European Threshold Amounts, the contracting authority shall request from the economic operator documents confirming the fulfilment of the conditions for participation in the procurement procedure,
      • where the value of the public contract is less than the European Threshold Amounts, the contracting authority may request from the economic operator documents mentioned before,
      Deposit/Bid bond  

      • where the value of the public contract is equal to or exceeds the European Threshold Amounts, the contracting authority shall request from the economic operator a bid bond,
      • where the value of the public contract is less than the European Threshold Amounts, the contracting authority may request from the economic operator a bid bond,
      • amount of the bid bond: not more than 3 % of the public contract value
      • method of payment of the bid bond: the bid bond may be paid in particular in one or several of the following forms: in cash, in the form of a bank guarantee or an insurance guarantee.

      Restricted procedure in Poland

      Definition  

      • a procurement procedure, in which any interested economic operator may submit a request to participate in a public contract award procedure; in this procedure tenders may be submitted only by economic operators invited by the contracting authority to submit a tender
      Notice  

        • publication of the notice in a place which is accessible to the public in the registered seat of the contracting authority and on its website in the Polish language,

          • publication of the notice in the Polish Public Procurement Bulletin – in procurement cases, where the value of the public contract is less than the European Threshold Amounts,

          • sending of the notice to the Publications Office of the European Union and publication in the TED (Tenders Electronic Daily – ‚Supplement to the Official Journal‘) – in procurement cases, where the value of the public contract is equal to or exceeds the European Threshold Amounts,
          Time-limit for receipt of requests to participate  

          • where the value of the public contract is less than the European Threshold Amounts – the time limit shall not be less than 7 days from the day, on which the notice is published in the Polish Public Procurement Bulletin,
          • where the value of the public contract is equal to or exceeds the European Threshold Amounts – the time limit for receipt of requests to participate shall not be less than: 30 days from the day of sending of the notice to the Publications Office of the European Union by electronic means with the use of the form and procedures published on the website referred to in the appropriate European Directive, or 37 days from the day of sending of the notice to the Publications Office of the European Union, in other way than mentioned before,
          Documents  

          • obligation for the economic operator (bidder) to attach to his request to participate a declaration of satisfaction of all conditions for participation in this procurement procedure,
          • where the value of the public contract is equal to or exceeds the European Threshold Amounts, the contracting authority shall request from the economic operator documents confirming the fulfilment of the conditions for participation in the procurement procedure,
          • where the value of the public contract is less than the European Threshold Amounts, the contracting authority may request from the economic operator documents mentioned before,
          Submission of tenders  

          • sending of the invitation to submit a tender to these economic operators who have fulfilled the conditions for participation in the procedure in such a number, as the contracting authority published in the notice, which shall not be less than 5 and not more than 20,
          Specifications of the procedure  

          • the contracting authority sends the specification together with the invitation to submit tenders to to economic operators fulfilling the conditions for participation,
          Time-limit for receipt of tenders  

          • where the value of the public contract is less than the European Threshold Amounts – in case of public supply and service contracts – the time limit shall not be less than 7 days from the day, on which the invitation to submit a tender was sent to the economic operators, and in case of public works contracts – not less than 14 days,
          • where the value of the public contract is equal to or exceeds the European Threshold Amounts – the time limit for receipt of tenders shall not be less than 40 days from the day of sending of the invitation to submit a tender to the economic operators,
          Deposit/Bid bond  

          • where the value of the public contract is equal to or exceeds the European Threshold Amounts, the contracting authority shall request from the economic operator a bid bond,
          • where the value of the public contract is less than the European Threshold Amounts, the contracting authority may request from the economic operator a bid bond,
          • amount of the bid bond: not more than 3 % of the public contract value
          • method of payment of the bid bond: the bid bond may be paid in particular in one or several of the following forms: in cash, in the form of a bank guarantee or an insurance guarantee.

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