Amendments in Public Procurement in 2017

On November 8, The Parliament started to discuss the latest government proposal regarding the extensive amendment of the Act on Public Procurement adopted at the end of 2015. The majority of the new rules will enter into effect on January 1, 2017 according to the bill.

The amendment would radically transform the rules of public procurements under EU thresholds.

One of the most significant changes will be the increase of the longstanding national thresholds. By amending the Act on the Central Budget the public procurement thresholds of supply and services contract would increase from HUF 8 million to HUF 15 million and threshold of public works contracts would increase from HUF 15 million to HUF 25 million.

Restricted procedures will cease to exist in case of supply and services contracts; while the recent threshold of public works contracts of HUF 100 million will reach HUF 300 million. The minimum number of the candidates to be invited to the tender will be five ­– recently the minimum is four, earlier it was three.

In order to enhance the principle of effective and responsible management new rules on procurements under HUF 1 million will probably be introduced from January 1, 2017. According to the amendment contracting authorities, before making any contract, will have to invite at least three candidates to submit a tender. These details will be regulated in a separate government decree.

You may find the full text of the bill T/12738 here.

To learn more, please contact our experts at Ecovis Hungary Legal.