Abstract
"This article aims to analyze whether the legislation enacted in the field of public procurement in Romania, based on the 2014 EU Directives, is effective in fostering resilience of the public institutions and indirectly of communities, and to provide a fit-for-purpose mechanism for dealing with the pandemic generated by the new type of coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2. The article discusses the necessity of new rules meant to promote swiftly purchases during the state of emergency. Undoubtedly, the pandemic generated crisis has raised some serious challenges to which public procurement regulations is in principle properly equipped to deal with: urgent need for supplies, works and services, but also unemployment or protection of other disadvantaged categories of people. We argue that resorting to specific tools (negotiated procedures, framework-agreements, centralized procurement, sustainable and social procurement, reserved contracts) when carrying out swift interventions generated by the pandemic would have been more suitable during this health crisis or even for preventing the effects of this pandemic. Instead, the attention of the legislator has been concentrated only on (unnecessarily) exempting the swift purchases of medical equipment from the rule of law. "
Highlights
This article aims to analyze whether the legislation enacted in the field of public procurement in Romania, based on the 2014 EU Directives, is effective in fostering resilience of the public institutions and indirectly of communities, and to provide a fit-for-purpose mechanism for dealing with the pandemic generated by the new type of coronavirus, Sars-CoV-2
European Commission continues to see procurement as one of the most important tools for sustainability and resilience. This is pretty obvious from the fact that procurement is listed among the top drivers for resilience in the new strategic Reflection Paper ‘Towards A Sustainable Europe by 2030’ (European Commission, 2019). Have these tools been used by national governments? We try to exemplify with Romania’s case in order to conclude that in times of crisis the sustainability and resilience of the public systems is overlooked and other arguments are put forward, the legal framework enables an approach that could favor resilience
In an attempt to keep the national authorities within an accountable legal regime, the Extension Decree as approved by the Romanian Parliament expressly stated that within 60 days of the end of the emergency state, the Court of Auditors will carry out a check on the management of public resources and will submit a report to Parliament including the findings
Summary
Resilience has occupied a prominent place in scientific literature and more and more interdisciplinary researches investigate the implications and importance of the concept for different fields of study. 21/2004 regarding the national system for the management of emergency situations This enactment mentioned the concept of ‘resilience’ in relation with the need to ensure the resilience of the communities when the committees for siege situations decide to implement special measures to respond to different crises such as the current pandemic. The European Commission has managed to conduct the first major EU joint procurement of medical equipment (JPA) considering the large number of Member States involved On their turn, Member States can make use of the negotiated procedures or simplified procurement, which were designed to help procurement in times of crisis. This is pretty obvious from the fact that procurement is listed among the top drivers for resilience in the new strategic Reflection Paper ‘Towards A Sustainable Europe by 2030’ (European Commission, 2019) Have these tools been used by national governments? The EU’s response to Covid-19 crisis: from coordinating joint procurement to issuing guidelines under the EU public procurement framework
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