Veřejné zakázky malého rozsahu nově až do 3, resp. 9 milionů korun

Small-Scale Public Contracts Now Up to 3 or 9 Million CZK

The main goal of the adopted amendment is to adapt the Public Procurement Act to the Regulation (EU) 2022/2560 of the European Parliament and Council on foreign subsidies distorting the internal market and to implement the necessary changes into Czech legislation.

These changes are reflected, for example, in the modification of the provisions on the rules for the course of the tendering procedure, which now arise not only from the Public Procurement Act or the tender conditions (as was the case until now), but also from directly applicable EU regulations (e.g. the aforementioned Regulation on subsidies).

Furthermore, the changes concern the extension of the procurement period. It is extended by the time during which a preliminary review or in-depth investigation of notified foreign financial contributions by the European Commission is conducted. This can cause considerable complications for contracting entities, as the regulation on subsidies prescribes a period of 20 working days for the preliminary review, and, if the European Commission finds that it has sufficient evidence to open an in-depth investigation, the time period is as long as 110 working days for this procedure.

This is also related to another change, namely the possibility for suppliers to withdraw from the procurement procedure even during the procurement period when the aforementioned review or in-depth investigation is ongoing, which represents a breakthrough into the general prohibition to withdraw from the procurement procedure during the procurement period.

The reasons for excluding a participant from the procurement procedure have also been modified. The changes affect both voluntary and mandatory exclusion of a participant, with the catalog of reasons being expanded to include reasons listed in directly applicable EU legislation. For example, failure to submit a declaration of foreign financial contributions is a new ground for exclusion.

However, the most significant change for practice is the increase in thresholds for small-scale public contracts from 2 to 3 million CZK (excluding VAT) for public supply and service contracts and from 6 to 9 million CZK (excluding VAT) for works contracts.

Additionally, the amendment also increases the limits for the obligation to publish the contract on the contracting authority's profile from 500,000 CZK to 1,000,000 CZK (excluding VAT).

If you are interested in further information, please contact the authors of the article or other members of the EY team you collaborate with.

Authors:

Matěj Plšek

Jakub Marko

Jan Turek