Abstract

Over the last 26 years, the public procurement system in Poland has undergone systematic changes aimed at establishing order in the rules on spending public funds. The adjustment of national law to comply with EU requirements has also been followed by a change in the way that officials perceive their statutory obligations. Not only was it important to precisely implement the demands arising from the provisions of the law, but also to bring about an evolution of the way in which officials perceive the essence and purpose of public procurement (three stages). The EU’s policy is to create a favourable climate for improving the qualifications and skills of officials, and consequently their professionalism. It is obvious that there is still a long way to go to in order to achieve a fully satisfactory level of professionalism among the participants in the process of spending public funds, but the level of involvement of officials in the process of stabilising the public procurement system is generally pleasing.

Maintaining the existing pace of development in the professionalism of the staff (including in terms of cooperation between the parties to proceedings), or at least maintaining the current status quo, may be undermined, however, once the new Public Procurement Law enters into force. Concerns may be raised about how effectively it will be implemented by the officials in practice (e.g. the need to process simplified orders in an electronic form). This problem may be further intensified should the pandemic status continue, as it introduces not only the necessary separation of the parties to the proceedings (limiting procedural contacts), but also has an impact on the organisation of work in units of the public finance sector, including the PPO (limiting the number of training sessions) and the NAC (extended waiting time for setting the date of hearings and a limited number of people participating there). However, this issue requires a separate study.