Romania has a new public procurement law

Romanias Parliament passes new public procurement package.

Daniela Budu, 11.05.2016, 14:10

A new set of
public procurement laws has been passed by the Chamber of Deputies, Parliament’s
decision-making body, one month later than requested by the European
Commission, which has criticised Romania for the delay. The new laws
incorporate the EU directives and rules to be applied to all EU member states.
The passing of these laws will simplify the public investment process, leading
to a decrease in the number of legal challenges.

According to
economic analyst Valentin Ionescu, the new European directives enforced at the
beginning of 2015 preserve something of the previous ones. Valentin Ionescu:

Indeed,
mechanisms have been introduced that make the whole process more flexible first
of all through the fragmentation of big contracts, which will allow several
companies to have access to contracts of procurement and works. On the other
hand, the initial tender price has increased, which is bad, because that cannot
contribute to curtailing corruption. On the contrary, it can fuel corruption,
leading to the creation of cronyism networks if procurement contracts can be
awarded without a tender.

The European
Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu has hailed the passing of the
laws and has expressed hope that the European fund absorption rate will
increase in Romania. Corina Cretu:

It was an
emergency and I was very worried because public procurement practically blocked
all operational programmes and beneficiaries could not make any acquisitions in
the absence of regulations. We hope other urgent issues will be addressed now
so that we can step up the European fund absorption rate and not lose the
entire year from the viewpoint of the European fund absorption.

According to the
European Commissioner, Romania is lagging behind when it comes to the
absorption of European funds, whose rate in the present financial framework is
very low and it must take advantage of all opportunities it gets in the
2014-2020 programming period. Corina Cretu has added that the project
development and fund absorption rate must be stepped up and has recalled that
in Brussels all conditions have been provided for Romania to absorb as many
European funds as possible. According to the European official, the objective
of the European Commission and of Romania is that the structural and cohesion
funds should again boost economic growth and the creation of jobs for
Romanians. The European Commissioner had warned even before the public
procurement law package was passed that if the absorption of funds did not
start in the coming months, Romania risked blocking its sustainable economic
and social development. We recall that, on paper, the European fund absorption
rate stands at 75% for the 2007-2013 period.