Studia Iuridica Lublinensia (Dec 2022)
Public-Law Nature of Public Procurement Law
Abstract
In the contemporary legal system, we face more and more complex regulations, located in areas between traditionally established branches of law. Today, public procurement law is predominantly of a public-law nature. The fact that public procurement law is part of public law has been determined under EU law. The EU legislature provided for the need to achieve, in the performance of strategic contracts, certain strategic objectives aimed at pursuing the public interest. The currently applicable Act of 11 September 2019 – Public Procurement Law (PPL) is, for the most part, public law. Firstly, only those statutorily specified are obliged to apply its provisions. Contracting entities are public administration bodies that are appointed to perform public tasks, in the forms provided for by law. Public procurement is one of the legal forms of action of public administration. The contracting entity, especially at the stage of preparing the procurement procedure, exercises sovereign power when taking decisions. Secondly, contracts are awarded for the aim of performance of public tasks and are financed from public funds. Most of the provisions of the PPL concern the obligations of the contracting entity in terms of identifying purchase needs, preparing the procurement procedure, and its conduct. The contracting entity specifies the subject-matter of contract, which is subordinated to its needs and serves the public purpose, which is the consequence of the public tasks assigned to the contracting entity. The purpose of the law is therefore to protect the public interest. The reference to application mutatis mutandis of the provisions of the Civil Code, to the extent not regulated in the PPL, is irrelevant. The legislature assumed that such a reference is applicable only in the situation where the issue in question is not regulated by the provisions of the PPL and concerns the actions taken by the contracting authority, economic operators and contest participant in the procurement and contest proceedings as well as public contract agreements, and is of a civil law nature. The reference does not therefore concern all matters governed by the PPL, but is merely supplementary in nature.
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