In September 2019, the Rada adopted a new law (No. 1076) on public procurement, which will enter into force on April 19 this year.
Let us consider in more detail how new changes will affect procurement, as well as corruption schemes of customers?
• As you know, customers often reject proposals from participants if they contain errors, even if they are insignificant. However, according to the new law, it became possible for participants to change / correct a mistake within 24 hours after its detection.
With this opportunity, it will become easier for participants to participate in procurement and compete with each other. Indeed, earlier, the customer often deliberately rejected a particular tender offer, using errors in the documentation only as an excuse for his corrupt purposes.
Now he does not have the right to reject the proposal, because of state bodies that control all his similar actions.
• The next change in the law that you should pay attention to is the newly introduced concept of “abnormally low price” (ANC), which the supplier will have to justify to conclude the contract. Also, this value will be highlighted in the trading system.
What does all this mean?
This means that a price offer that is 30% less than the next, or 40% less than the average value of the competitors’ price, will be displayed on the site in a different color at the end of the auction. Also, customers and all participants will receive a notification about the appearance of the ANC in the procurement. After that, a participant with such a price must justify the regulatory authorities the price set by him. In case of failure to fulfill such an obligation, his proposal will be rejected.
Some fear: what if a customer deliberately accepts an inappropriate rationale? In this case, in this case, other participants may appeal the decision of the customer in the Antimonopoly Committee.
As a result, the display of the ANC in the system will greatly facilitate monitoring by the public of this kind of procurement, and will become an additional marker for participants.
• Another point of the new law is the personal responsibility of officials for violation of the law in the field of public procurement. This innovation provides a fine of 2,000 to 10,000 tax-free minimums (34-170 thousand UAH.). So how can an official “fine” to get the minimum and maximum punishment?
Recall that previously there was such a thing as a “tender committee”, which included employees of the customer company. According to the new law, such committees will be liquidated from January 1, 2022, and the “authorized person” – specially trained people who will organize and conduct the procurement will be responsible for the procurement. It is these people who will now be responsible and punished with fines for violations of the law, the size of which will be determined by the authorized bodies.
• The document also says that now complaints can be submitted to the AMCU through the ProZorro system. Will it reduce at least some component of corruption schemes?
First of all, such an innovation is aimed at facilitating the work of participants by saving time. After all, now they no longer need to collect a huge list of papers that they will send to the AMCU, it will be enough to draw up an electronic document and pay for the complaint.
However, of course, this has to do with reducing the corruption component in public procurement, due to the dependence of the cost of filing a complaint on the cost of procurement.
• And finally, ProZorro.Market – the so-called online store for budgetary institutions, involving the introduction of electronic catalogs of common goods. How will he act?
By the principle of work, it will resemble an online store: suppliers publish their goods in the catalog, and customers, comparing for a particular product, will choose the best prices and conditions. The advantage of this innovation is that customers and participants do not need to spend time each time accepting offers, auctions, signing contracts for a long time.
As for the other changes, our specialists have studied them in more detail and are ready to share with you the advantages of various innovations. You can contact our legal department by filling out the form below:
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