Romania Could Lose EUR1B Of EU Funds Unless It Amends Public Procurement Law - Liberal

Orban said Friday during a press conference in Zalau, northwestern Romania, that the country risks losing EUR1 billion in European funds unless the government amends decree 19/2009 which amended the public procurement law and which breaches EU legislation.

"The government was notified three weeks ago by the European Commission that decree 19/2009, which amends the public procurement law, breaches European laws, but no measure has been taken to fix things. Unless the decree is amended, the EC will trigger infringement procedures. Also, the EU will no longer pay any contracts using EU funds awarded under that decree and thee contracts are worth a total EUR1 billion, which Romania risks losing," Orban said. 

He added a similar situation occurred in Greece, which lost EUR500 million in European financing for failure to amend public procurement legislation.

According to government emergency decree 19/2009, adopted by the Senate, contracting authorities may directly purchase goods, services or public works if they cost up to EUR15,000. Also, contracting authorities may use the request for proposal (RFP) procedure if the estimated contract value, VAT exclusive, is of up to EUR100,000 for services and up to EUR750,000 for public works.

On May 12, Cristina Traila, head of Romania’s National Authority Regulating and Monitoring Public Procurement, said Romania’s public procurement law will be amended again by introducing certain regulating stipulating that the lowest price criterion will no longer be decisive when assigning low-value contracts and the quality of products and services up for auction will also be considered.

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