Local governments will implement more investments without tenders. There are great hopes, but also fears

• The Ministry of Development and Technology has presented a draft amendment to the Public Procurement Law and the Act on the Concession Agreement for Construction Works or Services, which assumes an increase in the threshold amount by PLN 40,000.
• The change may cause a sense of uncertainty, but it is justified due to the increase in inflation in recent years - says lawyer Katarzyna Bełdowska, director of the local government budget unit of the Management Board of Public Praga Areas in the Praga-Północ District of Warsaw.
• In the opinion of Katarzyna Woźniak, director of the Public Procurement Office of the Poznań City Hall, representative of the Union of Polish Metropolises, the change will not improve the work of large cities, where a number of public procurement specialists work. However, it will bring procedural relief to small municipalities.
• Raising the thresholds also increases the risk of inappropriate spending of public funds by local government.

The idea of ​​raising the threshold for the application of the Public Procurement Law was included in the draft amendment to its provisions and the act on the concession agreement for construction works or services, which was published on the Government Legislation Centre website in recent days. The legislator explains that as a result of this change, a greater number of proceedings conducted by public entities, including local governments, will be able to be carried out outside the rigors of the Public Procurement Law. As a result, the proceedings will be shortened and simplified, and the agreements will be concluded more quickly.

The increase in the threshold is necessary due to high inflation

- As a result of the change consisting in raising the threshold for the application of the Public Procurement Law, the requirements regarding the method of

spending public funds. However, this does not mean lowering the requirements compared to the previous ones, but only a kind of return to the requirements in this area from a few years ago, or, in other words, adapting the requirements to current market conditions - says lawyer Katarzyna Bełdowska, director of the local government budget unit of the Praga Public Areas Management Board in the Praga-Północ District in Warsaw, in an interview with PortalSamorzadowy.pl and adds:

In practice, this means that more purchases will be possible without the need to use standardized and top-down procedures aimed at ensuring maximum competitiveness, and therefore, higher amounts of public money will be spent outside the rigors of the Public Procurement Law. Therefore, the change may cause a sense of uncertainty, but it is justified due to the increase in inflation in recent years.

- explains director Katarzyna Bełdowska.

He also explains that due to the increase in prices of services and products in recent years, the legislator's proposal is a natural consequence that will allow the situation to normalize to the state before high inflation. Thanks to this, local governments will be able to buy the same goods, services or perform identical construction works as several years ago without using the Public Procurement Law .

- Figuratively speaking, if in 2021 a service cost PLN 100,000 and the award of a contract for its performance was exempt from the Public Procurement Law, then in 2025 there is a big chance, almost certain, that the local government will not only pay much more for the same service, but will also be obliged to proceed with the award of such a contract under the Public Procurement Law, which in turn will generate additional costs of administrative and technical support - emphasizes director Katarzyna Bełdowska. - In recent years, a drastic increase in prices has affected almost all goods: from basic ones such as food, through various types of services, to construction works. The above is a natural consequence of, for example, the increase in the minimum wage by several dozen percent in recent years - she adds.

The PLN 170,000 threshold will not be significant for metropolises

Director Katarzyna Bełdowska points out that the proposed change in the threshold for the application of the Public Procurement Law will allow maintaining the number of proceedings conducted outside the rigours of the Public Procurement Law from the period

before high inflation. As a result of reducing the number of orders awarded under the Public Procurement Law, the process of awarding orders in public entities will be automatically simplified and the work of officials will be improved.

However, there are voices saying that such improvements will not affect all local governments .

Raising the threshold for applying the Public Procurement Law from PLN 130,000 to PLN 170,000 will not have any significance for large cities such as Poznań. In the City Hall we have specialists dealing with conducting public procurement procedures, for whom the procedures resulting from the Public Procurement Law do not constitute any obstacle in awarding contracts

- says Katarzyna Woźniak, director of the Public Procurement Office of the Poznań City Hall, representative of the Union of Polish Metropolises.

He adds: - However, I am aware that for smaller contracting entities that award several contracts per year under the statutory regime, raising the threshold may constitute significant procedural relief.

Increasing the amount threshold means increasing the risk

The representative of the metropolis points out possible threats resulting from the increase in the threshold. - From the perspective of the director of the Public Procurement Office responsible for the correctness of the purchasing process in the Poznań City Hall, I believe that increasing the threshold for applying the Public Procurement Act is always burdened with the risk of "moving" further expenses outside the public procurement system . Of course, the PZP procedures are, on the one hand, formalized and time-consuming, but on the other hand they guarantee transparency, competitiveness and, above all, protection of the legal interests of individual participants in the purchasing process. Personally, I believe that the right direction, taken by the current management of the Public Procurement Office, is to simplify existing procedures and regulations, and not significantly raise the threshold for applying the PZP - explains director Katarzyna Woźniak.

However, in the opinion of director Katarzyna Bełdowska, by increasing the threshold amount by PLN 40,000, the legislator ensured that the increase in the threshold was not too high, which could lead to an increased risk of potential inappropriate spending of public funds in local government.

The proposed increase in the threshold by 30 percent is, in my opinion, adequate to the increase in the prices of services and goods in recent years.

- emphasizes director Katarzyna Bełdowska, pointing out that such a level seems to be justified by the level of inflation in the last few years, but also serves solely to achieve the goal of normalizing the activities of contracting authorities, including local governments.

According to data from the Public Procurement Office, in 2024, nearly 9,000 orders were awarded in the range from PLN 130,000 to PLN 169,999.99, with a total value of over PLN 1.3 billion.

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