In brief

• Agnieszka Majewska, the Polish SME Ombudsman, proposes changes to the evaluation of bids in public tenders.
• She wants tenders to consider not only price but also quality and service.
• A new indicator is to be introduced, showing how much of the money spent remains in the Polish economy.

Who received the appeal

The proposals of the ombudsman for small and medium-sized enterprises were submitted to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance and Economy, the Minister of State Assets, and the President of the Public Procurement Office (Zamówienia publiczne. Rzecznik MŚP proponuje zmiany – com.pl). The ombudsman calls on the government to act quickly rather than commission further analyses. For now, these are only demands. There is no draft legislation and no date for introducing changes.

Why price still dominates tenders

According to the appeal, one of the barriers is officials' fear of liability. The law allows taking economic, social and environmental effects into account, but in practice decision-makers are afraid of being accused of violating public finance discipline and choose the offer with the lowest price. In Gaz-System's tender for steel pipes, price was the only criterion, and as a result a Polish consortium lost to a Turkish company by less than 200 thousand zloty, which amounts to 0.75 percent of the offer's value (Najtańszy wygrywa, choć po pięciu latach wychodzi najdrożej. Rzecznik MŚP chce skończyć z tą fikcją – bezprawnik.pl).

The ombudsman proposes considering changes that would allow non-price criteria to be used more widely. Quality, service and operating costs would carry more weight in the evaluation of offers.

New indicator: how much stays in the country

The letter introduces the concept of the Real Capital Retention Indicator. It would show what share of the money spent remains in the domestic economy. How exactly it would be calculated has not been specified.

What it means for small companies

If the proposals are introduced, contracting authorities would more often evaluate offers based on more than just price. A more expensive offer with better quality and service would have a real chance of winning. As of today, no new requirements apply. Before taking part in a tender, it is worth checking in the SWZ (specification of essential conditions of contract) what evaluation criteria and weightings the contracting authority has adopted.