Project R-11236

THE PRINCIPLE OF FREE AND UNRESTRICTED COMPETITION IN THE PROCESS OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT (Research)

The thesis entitled "The Principle of Free and Unrestricted Competition in the Process of Public Procurement" analyses the importance of the principle of competition in public procurement process, together with the relationship between competition and other basic principles of public procurement. It has as working hypothesis that the principle of competition is the most important one in public procurement and it creates a hierarchy of the basic principles of public procurement. This thesis will analyze the implication of the principle of competition in public procurement procedures: open and restricted procedure, competitive dialogue, design contest procedure, negotiation procedure without prior publication and the design of a particular award procedure for subsidizes housing schemes. Moreover, this paper will study the principle of competition in relationship with its exceptions: value for money, environmental and social protection, the promotion of small and medium-size enterprises in public procurement process, as well as the breaches of competition in public procurement: collusion, fraud, corruption and bid-rigging and the existing remedies against these breaches. Another important aspect of the thesis regards the examination of the influence of the health and economic crisis of COVID-19 in public procurement. Health concerns and border closures have caused severe disruptions in the supply and distribution chain of goods, works and services, which conducted to the adoption of urgent public procurement procedures that infringe the basic principles. Being characterized as a situation of force majeure, the EU Public Procurement Directives allow the use of special public procurement procedures that shall create a faster and less formal purchase process. Regarding these aspects, the paper will also focus on establishing the changes that occur in the times of COVID-19 in public procurement, both in its procedures and in connection to its principles, as well as linked to social protection (seen as a general exception of the principle of free competition). Finally, my thesis will concentrate on analysing the principle of competition in connection with the other six major principles of public procurement: transparency, economy, fairness, openness, integrity and accountability. As a conclusion, the thesis entitled "The Principle of Free and Unrestricted Competition in the Process of Public Procurement" has as main goal to give an answer to the basic question of this thesis: is the competition principle the main one in public procurement or was it overshadowed by its exception principles?

01 January 2021 - 31 December 2023