On 6 August 2019, amendments to the Public Procurement
Regulations (Subsidiary Legislation 174.04 of the Laws of Malta)
came into force. These Regulations transpose Directive
2014/24/EU on public procurement and repealing Directive
2004/2018/EC.
The amendments address two points:
First, contracting authorities no longer require the prior
approval of the Department of Contracts, being the central
government authority, in order to issue an open tender procedure on
an accelerated basis. Recourse to the accelerated procedure, which
reduces the time limit to respond to tenders to at least 15 days,
must always be justified by a state of urgency which renders
impracticable the standard time limits provided in the Regulations.
This justification must be duly substantiated in the procurement
documents.