Contracts related to public procurements in the polish legal system

Abstract

The provisions of agreements that are made between a procurer and a contractor are of key significance in relation to the diligent performance of a public procurement. It should be noted that the value of the Polish public procurement market, according to the latest data provided by the Public Procurement Office, amounted to 167 billion PLN in 20101. This value constituted approx. 11.8% of the gross domestic product. 195,555 agreements that relate to public procurements were concluded in 20122. Procurements granted to foreign contractors constituted 13.7 billion PLN of the sum mentioned above. One can easily observe that the problem of public procurements constitutes a very socially sensitive matter in Poland. The aforementioned observation arises from the fact that there have been numerous public investments – concluded by way of public procurements – and that these investments were connected with the organization of the European Football Championships 2012 in Poland. These investments, above all, were connected with the construction of the sports infrastructure as well as roads and highways. To be precise, these investments relate to the construction of the National Stadium in Warsaw as well as the A2 highway, which is a fragment of the international E30 route. The subject matter of the issues described in this article will be the problems that arise from contracts concluded in relation to public procurements on the basis of Polish legal solutions. Firstly, the legal foundations that relate to the regulations of the agreements in question will be discussed. Next, the legal nature as well as special provisions concerning the Public Procurement Act, which refer to these agreements, will be taken into consideration. The article will end with a short summary.