December 9, 2020 / Law /

The new Act – Public Procurement Law introduces regulations regarding the local inspection. The contracting authority, requiring a site visit, must specify this information in the SWZ. If the contracting authority provides for the possibility or, if it is necessary due to the specificity of the subject of the contract, requires the submission of an offer after the contractor has completed an on-site inspection, it shall set the deadlines for submitting offers, taking into account the time necessary for contractors to read the information necessary to prepare the offer, including that these periods must be longer than the statutory minimum periods, if any.

If the contracting authority required an on-site inspection in the procurement documents, the offer submitted without such a vision shall be rejected pursuant to Art. 226 paragraph. 1 point 18 of the new Public Procurement Law. At the same time, if the contracting authority has only allowed or recommended an on-site inspection in the procurement documents, there is no sanction of rejection of the offer in circumstances where the contractor has not exercised his option.

At the same time, it should be noted that the requirement to undergo an on-site inspection may not release the Employer from the correct description of the subject of the contract. The provisions of the Public Procurement Law impose an obligation on the contracting authority to describe the subject of the contract in an unambiguous and exhaustive manner, using sufficiently preciseand understandable terms, taking into account all requirements and circumstances that may affect the preparation of the offer. In one of the judgments of the National Appeals Chamber, it indicated that “the contracting authority, by establishing the requirement to make a vision violating the principles of fair competition and equal treatment of contractors, failed to properly describe the subject of the contract. The contracting authority burdened the contractors with the performance of their statutory obligation, requiring that they obtained the information necessary to prepare the offer during the vision. (…) The right action of the contracting authority should be to leave the possibility of making a vision to the selection of contractors as an auxiliary activity in the preparation of the offer and not affecting its formal evaluation “(judgment of the National Appeal Chamber of December 1, 2009, file ref. act KIO / UZP 1633/09).