The current situation as a result of the Corona virus comes with considerable difficulties and questions, for example, in the context of the awarding phase of public tenders, with regard to the submission deadlines imposed on the tenderers for the preparation and the submission of their tender.
Article 59, § 3, of the Act of 17 June 2016 regarding public procurement (“PP ACT”) only provides for an extension possibility of such deadline in the event of missing information or in the event of a significant modification of the tender documents. Thus the PP ACT does not explicitly provide for a possibility to extend the submission deadline in cases of force majeure.
A solution to extend the submission deadline may be found in article 59, § 1, of the PP ACT which provides that the contracting authority must take into account the time necessary for the preparation of the tender, when defining the deadline for submission of the tenders.
Furthermore one can seek to appeal to the goodwill of the contracting authority or try to invoke the general concept of force majeure.
In any case we strongly recommend consulting the e-notification website (e-notification website) for possible rectification notices on a regular basis or to swiftly contact the contracting authority with the request to extend the period for submission of the tenders.
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The Racine team is at your disposal to answer your specific questions.
