Despite the original target date that from 1 January 2018 contracting authorities falling under the Public Procurement Act ("PPA") shall conclude procurements through an electronic public procurement system ("EPPS"), Hungary will introduce electronic public procurement in two phases, according to a recent amendment ("Amendment") to the PPA:
- Between 1 January and 14 April 2018, contracting authorities may discretionally choose between the traditional paper-based procedure and the electronic procedure through the EPPS.
- From 15 April 2018, contracting authorities can only conclude their public procurement procedures through electronic way.
The Hungarian Chambers of Commerce and Industry initiated the Amendment, arguing that both the contracting authorities and the market players need an interim period to become familiar with the new EPPS maintained by the Cabinet Office of the Prime Minister. The introduction of the EPPS is not a complete transition to an end-to-end electronic public procurement procedure , but rather applies to electronic communication and electronic exchange of documents between contracting authorities and the economic operators, as well as the electronic publication of notices.
The Government has also adopted amendments to Government Decree No. 257/2007. (X. 4.) on electronic procedural measures in public procurement. The amended Government Decree contains provisions for the EPPS relating to the following questions:
- Registration in the EPPS;
- Measures to be taken by the contracting authority in case of unavailability of the EPPS;
- Declarations submitted by the representative of the consortium for joint tenders, and the liability of the representative for the content of such declarations;
- Format requirements for documents submitted through the EPPS;
- Automatic notifications sent by the EPPS;
- Submission of documents containing business secrets;
- Modification of the deadline for the submission of tenders, and requests to participate;
- Submission and opening of tenders, and requests to participate;
- Modification of tenders, and requests to participate;
- Remedying calculation errors;
- Unsuccessful outcome of the public procurement procedure due to the failure or unavailability of the EPPS;
Exclusion of liability of the developer or operator of the EPPS for damages resulting from the operation, malfunction or defect of the EPPS.
The amended rules of the Government Decree applies from 15 November 2017 to 31 December 2017. From 1 January 2018 a new decree is expected to replace Government Decree No. 257/2007. (X. 4.).
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