Disputes and claims

There is no separate (designated) public procurement review body for the examination of suppliers claims (disputes).

The Public Procurement Office is not a review body for such claims.  The public procurement law (Article 95(5)) states: "The Public Procurement Office shall not deal with complaints and reports of potential breaches of procurement procedures or performance of public contracts. The information contained in these complaints and reports shall be used for an analysis of public procurement on the basis of which an inspection of activities of the contracting authority may be initiated in accordance with point 5 of paragraph 2 of this Article."

An economic operator who believes that the contracting authority has not complied with the requirements of the Public Procuement Law or has, without providing justified grounds, terminated a contract as a result of a material breach of a public contract and thus violated or will violate its legitimate interests may, in accordance with the procedure laid down in Chapter VIII of the Public Procurement Law, refer to a regional court as a court of first instance. 

The essential provisions are:

An economic operator shall, in order to challenge in court the decisions or actions of the contracting authority before the award of a public contract or the conclusion of a framework agreement, lodge a claim with the contracting authority in writing (by fax, by electronic means or against signature via a postal service provider or another appropriate carrier).

The contracting authority must examine a claim, take a reasoned decision and notify in writing an economic operator who has lodged the claim, interested candidates and interested tenderers of the decision, also of a change in the previously announced terms of the procurement procedure not later than within 6 working days from the receipt of the claim.

If the contracting authority fails to examine a claim lodged with it within the set time limit, an economic operator shall have the right to make a request to or bring a lawsuit before a court within 15 days from the date on which the contracting authority ought to have given a written notice of a decision taken to the economic operator who has lodged the claim, interested candidates and interested tenderers.

An economic operator shall have the right to lodge a claim with the contracting authority, to make a request to or to bring a lawsuit before a court (except for an action for nullification of a public contract or a framework agreement or an action for recognition of the termination of the public contract as unjustified):

1) within 10 days (in the case of a simplified (under the European threshold) procurement – within 5 working days) from the date on which a notice of the contracting authority about the decision taken by the contracting authority is sent to economic operators or, if this notice is not sent by electronic means, within 15 days from the date on which the notice is sent to the economic operators;

2) within 10 days (in case of a simplified procurement (under the European threshold) – within 5 working days) from the date on which a decision taken by the contracting authority is published, if this Law does not require to inform the economic operators in writing about the decisions taken by the contracting authority.

Upon making a request to or bringing a lawsuit before a court, an economic operator must, not later than within 3 working days, submit to the contracting authority a copy of the request or the lawsuit with evidence of receipt thereof by the court.