12 Apr Framework agreements: the key for easier public procurement
Belgrade, April 11, 2019 – You are out of office supplies? It happened to everyone, multiple times. You need to make an urgent trip, so how do you book a flight ticket? Do you have to start the complicated public procurement procedure again and again? Answers to these questions and more were provided to the 55 participants of the workshop “Framework agreements in the light of provisions and practice of the European Union” organized by Project “Support for further improvement of Public Procurement system in Serbia” in cooperation with SIGMA, a joint initiative of the OECD and the EU.
Public procurement procedures have become more complex, and often there is not enough time to go through them. A way that allows you, while maintaining the transparency, to finish the job efficiently lies in the framework agreement.
The framework agreement in public procurement, as a practical solution for frequent purchase of goods, services and works, allows the contracting authority without entering into binding contractual obligation, to define the framework of their needs, and to make the final contractual commitment once the need occurs.
“Framework agreements play an important role in simplifying the procedures, efficient procurement of the necessary goods or services, and at the same time enabling a transparent procedure”, said Teja Kolar, team leader of IPA project in her introductory speech.
At the start of the workshop, SIGMA representative Erika Bozzay also addressed the participants underlining how important it is for state officials in Serbia to get acquainted with European procedures, especially because of the new Public Procurement Law, which was drafted according to the highest standards in this field.
Participants got to hear from Małgorzata Stachowiak, public procurement expert from Poland, who talked about the approach of EU Directives on public procurements concerning the framework agreements, their concept, the parties in the process, how it is planned, organized and executed, as well as some examples from experience.
“Of course, a public procurement procedure is necessary for a framework agreement too just like any other public procurement contract. But, framework agreement can last up to four years for contracting authorities or up to eight years for the contracting entities, and in certain exceptional cases even longer. It is possible to award a call-off based on framework agreements concluded with one or more bidders, but it is very important to know how to perform the monitoring, and how the agreement is terminated”, said the Polish public procurement expert.
Dragan Cvijić, representative of Public Procurement Administration of the Republic of Serbia, introduced the legal framework in Serbia and the practice of awarding framework agreements to the workshop participants.
Documents relating to this workshop can be found here: