Public procurement goes online
On Dec. 22, 2005 the Lithuanian Parliament adopted the new version of the Law on Public Procurement, which came into effect on Jan. 31, 2006. It was enacted to implement the provisions of the EU directives adopted in 2004. The aim of the new amendments is to simplify the legal framework of public procurement and adapt it to the new electronic age while maintaining the stability of its basic structure. One of the major parts of the amendments is related to the use of electronic means in public procurement procedure.
According to the law, electronic means in the public procurement process may be used in communication, notices, access to documents and in the tendering process itself. In practice electronic means are basically understood as Internet and e-mail.
Electronic means are set forth in parallel with traditional means of communication. Contracting authorities, with certain restrictions, may decide that all communications and exchanges of information with economic operators will be performed exclusively by electronic means or by a combination of electronic means and paper.
The law provides that contracting authorities may send tender notices to the responsible national institution electronically. In such case a special standard notice form should be used.
Contracting authorities may also decide that tender documents shall be made available or shall be sent to the economic operators by electronic means, e.g. presentation in the Web site of contracting authority, sending by e-mail, etc.
The electronic submission of notices and the electronic access to tender documents allow contracting authorities to significantly save time in the procurement process; in both cases, time-limits can be reduced for the procedure as a whole.
Further into the procurement process, now electronic means can be used to transmit and receive tenders and requests to participate. Contracting authorities are free to choose the appropriate means of communication and are responsible for organizing the electronic receipt of tenders and requests to participate. In addition, two fully electronic procedures 's i.e., dynamic purchasing system (DPS) and electronic auction 's are introduced. However, economic operators have to comply with the specifications of the reception device in order to present a valid tender or request to participate.
In order to use electronic means to transmit and receive tenders and requests to participate, including DPS and electronic auction, specific technical requirements for the security and confidentiality of electronic reception devices should be met. It includes encryption of data, electronic signatures, time stamping, etc.
Since currently there are very few economic operators using electronic signature and necessary electronic devices require additional investments, the technical requirements may raise potential difficulties for the wide application of electronic public procurement to its full extent in practice. However, the benefits of the electronic procurement, including more expedient procedure, potential cost saving, as well as standardization of IT requirements in this area should overcome potential difficulties and give impulse for the development of the electronic public procurement. In any case, certain procedures, such as communication between the parties, submission of notices and access to tender documents, do not require any material investments and may be freely used by any organization having a computer and access to the Internet.
Jurevicius, Balciunas & Bartkus is a member of Baltic Legal Solutions, a pan-Baltic integrated legal network of law firms which includes Teder Glikman & Partnerid in Estonia and Kronbergs & Cukste in Latvia, dedicated to providing a quality 'one-stop shop' approach to clients' needs in the Baltics.
