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The European Union’s threshold for announcement of public works contracts awarded by all contracting authorities has been raised from EUR 4,845,000 to EUR 5,000,000. The thresholds for contracts for goods and services have also increased.

The following Polish regulations involving public procurement went into effect on 1 January 2012:

• Prime Minister’s Decree of 16 December 2011 on the Value of Procurements and Competitions Requiring Submission of Announcements to the Publications Office of the European Union (Journal of Laws Dz.U. 2011 No. 282 item 1649)
• Prime Minister’s Decree of 16 December 2011 on the Average PLN/EUR Exchange Rate as a Basis for Calculating the Value of Public Procurements (Journal of Laws Dz.U. 2011 No. 282 item 1650).

These regulations supersede the regulations of the same names dated 23 December 2009.

Under these amendments, the values of public procurements and competitions which are the basis for the requirement to submit an announcement to the EU Publications Office—referred to as the “EU thresholds”—have been increased. The EU threshold for public works contracts awarded by all contracting authorities has been raised from EUR 4,845,000 to EUR 5,000,000. The thresholds for public supply and service contracts have also increased, to EUR 130,000 (for central government institutions), EUR 200,000 (for regional and local governmental units, public educational institutions, and state organisational units without legal personality), and EUR 400,000 (for sector procurements).

As a result of the new regulations, the thresholds for contracts for which public procurement procedures are not required have also effectively increased. While the euro threshold is still EUR 14,000, from 1 January 2012 the PLN/EUR exchange rate used as the basis for calculating the value of public contracts has changed. The current rate is PLN 4.0196/EUR, which means that contracting authorities may award contracts without following procurement procedures up to PLN 56,274.40 net (an increase of PLN 2,528.40 compared to use of the prior conversion rate).

These changes reflect the implementation into Polish law of Commission Regulation (EU) No 1251/2011 of 30 November 2011 amending Directives 2004/17/EC, 2004/18/EC and 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council in respect of their application thresholds for the procedures for the awards of contract (EU Official Journal L 319/43 of 2 December 2011), as well as Communication from the Commission—Corresponding values of the thresholds of Directives 2004/17/EC, 2004/18/EC and 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (EU Official Journal C 353/1 of 3 December 2011).

The new regulations apply to procurements commenced on or after 1 January 2012.

Anna Prigan, Infrastructure, Transport & Public Procurement (PPP) practice, Wardyński & Partners