Public Procurement And Self-cleaning Of Cartel Members

In Romania, companies that commit severe professional misconduct are excluded from participation in public procurement procedures. Yet, these companies have received some good news recently thanks to a common opinion issued by the Romanian National Agency for Public Procurement ("ANAP") and the national Competition Council (the "Common Opinion"). In this article we analyse the clarifications introduced by the Common Opinion on how self-cleaning can be achieved by blacklisted companies.

Context

The Romanian legislation on public procurement, utilities procurement and works/services concessions regulates a series of mandatory grounds for exclusion meant to protect contracting authorities/entities from participating in public procurement tenders and, subsequently, the awarding of contracts to companies whose performance in previous tenders/contracts was suboptimal or whose actions may raise suspicions about their integrity.