General rules of sustainable public procurement
Public Procurement Authority (PPA) has a strategic approach to public procurement, in which sustainability aspects also have to be taken into consideration. The PPA states that as a primary rule, contracting authorities shall – where applicable, using social, environmental, or other aspects – choose the most economically advantageous tender, by using a cost-effectiveness approach, or best price-quality ratio as contract award criteria instead of the lowest price (Art. 76-78 of the PPA). According to Government Decree 321/2015 (X. 30.) environmental and social requirements may be achieved during the definition of technical specifications [Art. 48 (2)]. Government Decree 48/2011. (III. 30.) stipulates, that contracting authorities and public service providers shall purchase environmentally friendly and energy effective vehicles.
PPA: • The preparation of public procurement procedures: According to Art. 28 (1) of the PPA, the contracting authority shall aim to high-quality execution during the preparation of the public procurement procedure with special attention to the subject of the procurement, the protection of the environment, sustainability and prevention of contractual amendments concerning the subject of the procurement. • Technical specifications & labels: According to the Art. 59 (1) of the PPA where contracting authorities intend to purchase works, supplies or services with specific environmental, social or other characteristics or intend to take those characteristics into account during the evaluation, they may - in the technical specifications, in the contract performance conditions or in the award criteria - require a specific label (provided that all of the conditions are fulfilled in PPA). • Selection of the winning tenderer: The PPA is supposed to serve the goals above mentioned by the selection of economic operators: - exclusion grounds: Art. 63 (1) a) of the PPA, Art. 57 (4) a) of the 2014/24/EU Directive The PPA defines a series of exclusion grounds which are either mandatory (listed in Article 62 of the PPA) or their use is left to the discretion of contracting authorities (listed in Article 63 of the PPA). - award criteria: Art. 76 (1) and (3) a) of the PPA, Art. 67 (1) and (2) a) of the 2014/24/EU Directive; Contracting authorities may only impose criteria referred to - economic and financial standing; - technical and professional ability; - suitability to pursue the professional activity on economic operators as requirements for participation (Art. 65 of the PPA). • Invalidity of the tender: According to the Art. 73 (1) e) of the PPA, the tender or the request to participate shall be considered invalid, if it does not comply in any other way with the conditions stipulated in the contract notice, and in the public procurement documents and by law, with the exception of formal tender requirements set out by the contracting authority; Furthermore Art. 73 (4) says that according to paragraph (1) e), the tender shall be considered invalid, in particular, if it does not comply with the environmental, social and labour requirements laid down by legislation or mandatory collective agreement or the provisions on environmental, social and labour requirements. • Contractual terms: As regard the performance of the contract, the contracting authority may determine special requirements especially environmental, social or innovative aspects (Art. 132. (1) of the PPA, Art. 70 of the 2014/24/EU Directive).