Abstract

The introduction of Art. 91.2a of the Public Procurement Act forced the contracting authorities to detail their requirements, also by extensive evaluation based on other than price criteria. Although proposed as a possible evaluation criterion, service is not applicable in common practice. It infrequent application has its source in the subsidiary nature of this criterion, on a par with its subjective and objective complexity. The use of service should be a well-thought out action relating directly to the properties of the ordered goods, justified by additional indication of the potential benefits that can be achieved thanks to an extensive service provision structure. In relation to other criteria, service should not be granted to the foremost weight, but should rather be a fine-tuning addition for other non-price evaluation criteria in public procurement, such as a warranty and a quality guarantee.