APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF PROPORTIONALITY IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

Section "Law": Legal Regulation of Economic Relations in Specific Areas and Sectors of the Economy

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the essence of the principle of proportionality in public procurement, which was determined by the several categories, in particular 1) the category of limitation of the contracting authority’s discretion at all stages of procurement, including the execution of the public contract. It means that every time the contacting authorities make a choice within the procurement procedure, they have to choose a measure that corresponds to the goal of the procurement avoiding the restriction of competition and excessive requirements for economic operators which create barriers in taking part in procurement and therefore infringe the principle of non-discrimination; 2) the category of coordination of actions of the legislator in terms of defining the legal framework for public procurement with the economic and legal purpose of such procurement; 3) the category of determining the limits of possible restrictions on competition which are stipulated by public interests. The principle of proportionality ensures the balance not only between the interest of contracting authorities and economic operators but also the public interests, namely the taxpayers, which often become the aim for which competition may be restricted in procurement. Given that principle of proportionality may act as an additional guarantee for the protection of economic operators against discriminatory requirements that are excessive or not objectively justified, the author suggests to define in the article on the qualification criteria in the Law of Ukraine "On Public Procurement" that such criteria should meet and be proportionate to the nature, volume and complexity of the goods, works and services that are the subject-matter of the procurement. The article gives special consideration to the role of the proportionality principle in the pursuit of horizontal objectives in public procurement. The author concludes that in order to provide an opportunity to successfully pass the proportionality test in determining the boundaries of horizontal policy implementation, public procurement should be recognized as a potential means of state regulation of the economy and the achievement of the relevant economic policy goals of the state. The article provides an in-depth analysis of the cases of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine as an appeal body in public procurement on disproportionate qualification criteria in tender documents and procurement procedures. The author comes to the conclusion that often too formalized approach during the evaluation of tender offers according to the requirements in tender documentation could lead to situations when the main aim of the procurement, namely to deliver best value for money, is not achieved. In this context, the article provides arguments how the principle of proportionality could solve this problem. In addition, the author pays attention to the national courts as well as the Court of Justice of the European Union practice on proportionality issues in public procurement.

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