Abstract

In 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic meant that every country’s government was forced into purchasing personal protective equipment, along with medicinal products and respirators. The key procurement decisions made in order to limit the effects of the crisis caused by the virus regarded granting public procurement contracts. The state of an epidemiological threat is extraordinary for all contracting authorities, as well as for beneficiaries executing projects co-financed from EU funds. The laws introduced during the epidemic enabled the application of the Public Procurement Law to be excluded, along with the application of qualification guidelines in the cases justified by the epidemic. The purpose of this article is to analyse the procedures that apply to contracting authorities awarding public contracts during an epidemic.