Public contracts - Slovenia

The legal basis for public procurements in Slovenia is represented by the following legislation:

• The Public Procurement Act which lays down the procedures for the procuremenrt of goods, services and works, which must be obeyed by public procurement authorities and offerrors who submit a bid.
• The Public Procurement in the Water, Energy, Transport and Postal Services Sector Act covers procedures for public purchasing in the water, energy, transport and postal services sector, and
• The Review of the Public Procurement Procedures Act which lays down the laws and other regulations relating to procedures concerning the award of public contracts and the means of implementing EU legislation.
• Public Procurement Act
• Public Procurement in the Water, Energy, Transport and Postal Services Sector Act
• Review of the Public Procurement Procedures Act

Types of public procurement procedures:

A contracting authority will open up a public procurement procedure using one of the following procedures:

• open procedure,
• procedure with prior verification of eligibility (qualitative selection)
• competitive dialogue,
• negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice,
• negotiated procedure with prior publication of a contract notice,
• procedure for collecting bids after prior call for competition
• procedure for collecting bids.

A contracting authority must send notification of an intended procurement to the Office of the Official Publications of the European Communities which will publish it, and to a Public Procurement Portal, if a procurement without VAT amounts to the following values:

• EUR 133,000 for procurement in goods and services, if the contracting authorities are State authorities or local councils,
• EUR 206,000 if goods and services are purchased by another contracting authority,
• EUR 5,150,000 for public procurement in construction works.

For public procurement in the water, energy, transport and postal services sector the threshold amount for goods and services is EUR 412,000 and for construction works EUR 5,150,000.

However, the thresholds are different for each procedure, and for each type of public procurement, in particula in the field of defence.   Detailed provisions are laid down in the Public Procurement Act and in the Decision on the publication of thresholds for public procurement procedures.

• Thresholds for public procurement procedures

Contract notice procedure: Step-by-step Guide

A contracting authority must send all public procurement documentation to the Public Procurement Portal for the requirements of a call for tender.

• Public Procurement Portal

A contracting authority will specify, in the call for competition and its related documentation, all the conditions (obligatory and optional) which the offerors must fulfill on the date of submission of a bid, to be eligible for participation in the tender. Some of the obligatory conditions are:

• you must be registered with a competent court or other competent authority;
• you must have the permits necessary for the activities you are offering; and
• you must have proof that you are not subject to criminal proceedings for an alleged criminal offence concerning bribery or that you have not been convicted for such an offence.

Unless otherwise defined by law for certain types of procedure, the public procurement procedure, in compliance with the Public Procurement Act, will follow the specified steps in the order as presented below:

• preliminary informative notice, if necessary,
• decision on the commencement of the procedure,
• drafting the tender documentation,
• publishing a call for tender announcing the intention to award a contract,
• submission and opening of bids,
• examination and assessment of bids,
• decision on awarding the contract (selection procedure),
• publishing a notice announcing that the contract has been awarded,
• complaints of aggrieved offerors, if any.
• Ministry of Finance – Useful information for public procurement

Types of public procurements

A public procurement is divided into three main groups:

• "Public Procurement in works" has as its subject matter a contract relating to construction works, or both construction design and construction works, or carrying out one of various construction works in compliance with the requirements and conditions specified by the contracting authority.
• "Public Procurement in services"   has as its subject matter a contract relating to the provision of one or more services from the List of Services.
• "Public Procurement in goods" has as its subject matter a contract relating to the purchase of goods, leasing, rental or hire-purchase of products, with or without the option to buy such products.
• Types of public procurement

State authorities which have legal power in matters relating to public procurement

The competent Ministry for governing matters relating to public procurement is the Ministry of finance. All notices relating to the public procurement (intention to award a contract) must be published by a contracting authority on the Ministry of Finance Portal. All notices from the Portal which are designated as information of a public nature will be published on the Internet by the Ministry of Finance.

• Public Procurement Portal

The competent review body for instigating infringement proceedings relating to a contracting authority's decision is the National Review Commission for Reviewing Public Procurement Procedures. This Commission is an independent State institution which provides for the legal protection of offerors relating to the procedures for awarding contracts. The infringement proceedings will be instigated by the authorised official person, a member of the National Review Commission, who is also eligible to issue a decision. This official person is appointed by the chairman of the National Review Commission in accordance with the law governing infringements.

• National Review Commission