Implementation of Public Procurement Procedure for Goods

Upon reviewing the legal regulation of the public procurement system, I can conclude that as a young state, we are still in transition. The Public Procurement Act has undergone a series of amendments, therefore the diploma thesis attempted to present public procurement in Slovenia in accordance with the new Public Procurement Act, which began to be applied on 7. The focus was limited to the presentation of public procurement in Slovenia, the phases in the procedure, fundamental principles and public procurement procedures. Practice will show whether the amendment has met the expectations of contracting authorities and tenderers as well as the professional public and competent institutions.

Problem

Upon reviewing the legal regulation of the public procurement system, I can conclude that as a young state, we are still in transition. The Public Procurement Act has undergone a series of amendments, therefore the diploma thesis attempted to present public procurement in Slovenia in accordance with the new Public Procurement Act, which began to be applied on 7. 1.

2007.

Solution and Method

The focus was limited to the presentation of public procurement in Slovenia, the phases in the procedure, fundamental principles and public procurement procedures. As a research component, the thesis presented how public procurement is carried out in public institution X and why they decided on a particular procurement procedure and not another. In public institution X, as an accountant, the author was directly involved in public procurement, therefore the topic was interesting for research and presentation in the diploma thesis.

The rules on public procurement were adopted on the basis of the assessment that public sector entities cannot be equally autonomous in choosing a contractual partner as is the case in the private sector, since public sector entities deal with public interests and the spending of budgetary funds. Public procurement must be viewed from a different perspective when the private sector appears as a tenderer in the field of public procurement. We are therefore dealing with a special relationship or partnership between the public and private sectors.

At the end of 2006, a new Public Procurement Act (ZJN-2 and ZJN VETPS) was adopted, which was supposed to simplify public procurement award procedures and comprehensively harmonise the field of public procurement with European Community rules. But will this really be the case?

Results

Practice will show whether the amendment has met the expectations of contracting authorities and tenderers as well as the professional public and competent institutions. Very often, the actual meaning of a legal norm and the will of the legislator can only be determined when it is applied in practice, therefore it will be particularly important how the National Review Commission will rule on the individual meaning of norms. Some time has passed since the new act began to be applied, therefore the first practical experiences are already known.

Whilst researching and reading the literature, the conclusion was reached that at least two innovations relating to public procurement procedures need to be highlighted, namely competitive dialogue and the procedure for collecting tenders without prior publication and with it. Competitive dialogue is a real innovation in the new ZJN-2. It is a procedure in which, to put it simply, the contracting authority knows the goal, but does not fully know the path to achieve that goal.

Therefore, it is particularly useful for more demanding public procurement. In the first phase, the contracting authority recognises the capability of candidates. It can then, together with them, formulate the final tender documentation for the second phase by negotiating with all candidates; during negotiations, the number of candidates can be gradually reduced according to pre-set criteria.

Competitive dialogue must begin with at least three candidates, whilst competition must be ensured in the final phase. The procedure for collecting tenders without prior publication is quite similar to previous low-value public procurement. The essential difference from the previous one is in less standardisation and a higher lower limit, whilst the upper limit has remained practically the same.

This means quite a few simplifications in public procurement. In public institution X, the decision was made to use the procedure with prior determination of capability, because for our activity it is the most suitable procedure for procuring the goods we need, so that we can conclude framework agreements with tenderers. These enable the greatest flexibility in procurement with the greatest possible transparency of the procedure, as presented in the diploma thesis.