On Friday 12th December the Chamber of Deputies of Parliament of the Czech Republic approved the amendment to the Public Procurement Act. The amendment brings few substantial changes to the process of public procurement. First of them is introduction of more criteria than just the price, namely organization (company) assessment and qualification and experience of employees involved in the public contract. Also in the case of highly qualification demanding contracts (consulting, architecture) the quality of performance would be assessed. Part of the assessment criteria could also be the social impact of the procurement contract meaning for example employing socially endangered groups or promoting corporate social responsibility and non-discrimination. Also the obligation to cancel the process of public procurement competition if there is only one applicant is omitted leaving this possibility at the discretion of the contracting authority. Also the way of treating extra work has changed as the contracting authority that has drafted the public procurement proposal with due diligence is now allowed to pay the extra work – if it should occur – without the fear of being penalized. The Public Procurement Act amendment now goes to Senate to be discussed there.

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