Poland

Pillar I. The State’s duty to protect human rights

2. Public procurement [page 17]

On 28 July 2016, an amendment to the Public Procurement Law (PPL) came into force, introducing a number of changes related to the implementation of new EU directives in the field of public procurement in the Polish legal system.3 One of the objectives of the new regulation is to enable contracting institutions to make better use of public procurement to support social policy objectives, for instance, by introducing a requirement to hire contractors and subcontractors under employment contracts. Recognising the problems of contracting authorities with the practical application of Article 29(3)(a) of the PPL, and intending to ensure the most effective application of employment requirements, the Public Procurement Office drafted and published on its website a legal opinion on the application of Article 29(3)(a) of the PPL. The opinion takes into consideration the position of the Inspector-General for the Protection of Personal Data and, while providing guidance regarding the ability of contracting authorities to verify the fulfilment by contractors and subcontractors of the requirement to employ personnel performing activities envisioned in the contract, together with the sample provisions referred to in Article 36(2)(8)(a) of the Public Procurement Law.

According to Recommendations of the Council of Ministers on the consideration of social aspects in public procurement by the government administration, the heads of government administration units are obliged to analyse the possibility of applying social clauses to all public procurement proceedings, including contracts that do not comply with the provisions of the Public Procurement Law.

Successful implementation of social goals through public procurement requires educational activities among public procurement market participants. The Public Procurement Office carries out educational activities aimed at promoting social issues in public procurement primarily on the basis of the National Action Plans for Sustainable Public Procurement. The National Action Plan for Sustainable Public Procurement 2017-2020 calls for educational activities such as conferences, training, or the preparation of relevant publications.

Plans are in store to identify and publish a catalogue of good practices and to develop specimen documents. As part of the planned educational activities, the Public Procurement Office intends to present to the Polish contracting authorities, among other things, the possibility of including public symbols of a social nature based on the criteria of respecting human rights in the production of goods subject to a public contract in the procurement procedure.4 With respect to reporting information on sustainable public procurement, the contracting authority will, under the new rules for drawing up annual reports on contracts awarded, include detailed information on social aspects in the new Part VIII of the annual report form (Contracts to which the provisions of the law taking into account social aspects apply). This will help obtain comprehensive data about the social aspects incorporated into public procurement.