As of 1 January 2021, a new version of the Public Procurement Law (PPL), passed on 11 September 2019, came into effect. The new PPL is a major overhaul of the previous legislation, and one of the most important changes is that tender proceedings will now be fully electronic. All procedures will be conducted electronically, and it will only be possible to bid electronically. Paper bids will essentially only be allowed in special cases.
Under the new PPL, all communication between contractors and contracting authorities will be conducted electronically, and this applies not only to bids, but also other submissions, documents, notices, powers of attorney, bid bonds, and so on. Electronically conducted proceedings are considerably more convenient for a foreign contractor, as they are no longer required to submit bids on paper at the seat of the contracting authority in Poland. On the other hand, this entails significant responsibility, because electronic communication involves a range of requirements, such as use of an electronic signature. Any contractor considering entering a tender governed by the new PPL (worth PLN 130 000 or more) is required to have an electronic signature. For tenders of a value below the EU thresholds, Polish legislators also provided for the option of using a ‘trusted signature’ and ‘personal signature’, which are effective only in Poland and are definitely less secure than the qualified electronic signature. We recommend only using the qualified electronic signature in the meaning of Regulation (EU) no 910/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 (eIDAS), as it will be recognized regardless of the procedure followed.
Bids must be submitted using a procurement platform, and may not be submitted by e-mail. Only the subsequent correspondence and exchange of documents may be conducted using e-mail, provided that the contracting authority has given consent in the tender documentation. There are state platforms (e-Zamówienia and miniPortal) and private platforms (such as MarketPlanet). It is up to contracting authorities to decide which platform they use, but these platforms differ, and therefore it is advisable for contractors to find out in advance what the precise bidding procedure is in the tender in question. The contracting authority has a duty to disclose this in the tender documentation. If an error is made when submitting the bid, the bid will be rejected.
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