Abstract

The contracting authority’s obligation to maintain and provide access to the record of the contract award procedure results from the principle of openness and transparency operating under the public procurement law. In light of the view indicated here, the content of Articles 96 and 97 of the Public Procurement Law of 24 January 2004 are crucial, as they set out the legal framework of the record of the contract award procedure. Hence, the provisions of these two articles strictly determine the documentary obligations on the part of the contracting authority, while establishing the rights granted to the contractor participating in the public procurement procedure. This paper delves into the issues related to aspects such as the form and content of the record of contract award procedure and its attachments, the manner of making them available, and the rules for storing this documentation. The analysis carried out in this paper lead to the formulation of several conclusions. Firstly, that, when preparing and commencing a contract award procedure, the contracting authority is obliged to document it in an ongoing and reliable manner. Secondly, that full computerisation is a desirable direction of change in the way of documenting proceedings. Thirdly, that the legislator should look into the issue of having initial tenders available at a very preliminary stage of the proceedings, as this may have a counter-competitive impact, due to the possibility of contractors replicating the solutions proposed in a competitor’s offers. Fourthly, an unjustified refusal to disclose the contents of the record and its attachments should be considered a violation of the principle of openness, which is a condition for appealing to the president of the NAC. Fifth, the record and its attachments are a key source of information about a given proceedings, both for the judicial control authorities and administrative control, hence the possibility of verifying it in the period following the conclusion of the proceedings is extremely important for a reliable assessment of the course of proceedings and the activities performed before proceedings were initiated.