Abstract

The Polish public procurement law fully allows for the conclusion of a public contract with several economic operators. The contracting authority cannot impose conditions for cooperation between jointly competing economic operators. The author of this paper considers the legal nature of cooperation agreements between contractors and the consequences arising therefrom. In the opinion of the author, the public procurement contract is crucial for the assessment of the ongoing relationship between the economic operators and the contracting authority. The agreement governing cooperation between the operators should be taken into account only in the second place. The legal nature of the agreement precludes such issues as the representation of the economic operators in the relationship with the contracting authority, the effectiveness of performance, and asserting claims in court. If the cooperation agreement can be classified as a civil partnership agreement, in accordance with the case law of the Supreme Court the contractor may enforce a claim resulting from a public contract only jointly. When the cooperation agreement cannot be considered as a civil partnership agreement, the economic operators shall enjoy the right to seek a part of the receivables due under a public contract separately.