The Public Procurement Law Association and the publishing house, Wiedza i Praktyka, invite you to the debate:

"Amendments to procurement contracts in the era of war, inflation, and pandemics".

The event will take place on 31 May 2022 from 10:00 to 12:00

In awarding and executing public contracts in the special conditions related to the war in Ukraine, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the extraordinary increases in the prices and costs of work, huge challenges are posed even for the most experienced participants in the public procurement market. Representatives of public institutions, contracting authorities and contractors, experts, and practitioners are invited to participate in the debate that will discuss the problems of adapting contracts concluded under the public procurement regime to the changing circumstances. We encourage you to participate in this event and we hope that our discussion will contribute to a broader debate on the practice of applying the available legal solutions and the possible need to change them:

• practical problems in documenting the impact of the circumstances related to COVID-19, the war in Ukraine, and rising inflation, on the due performance of a public procurement contract in the context of seeking an increase in remuneration or an extension of the time for completion;
• the possibility of using review clauses and provisions to amend a contract due to unforeseen circumstances and so-called “bagatelle amendments”; problems with the adequacy of indexation clauses indicated in the ToR (the definition and effectiveness of an indexation clause, limit of permissible indexation, etc.);
• the admissibility of contractual change (indexation) of the contractor's remuneration in contracts not containing an indexation clause under Public Procurement Law;
• practical problems in seeking a change (increase) in remuneration based on an extraordinary change of relationship - the so-called "rebus sic stantibus" clause (the scope of the contractor's liability in the context of the predictability of an increase in prices and costs of work - typical economic risk; the concept of “gross loss”, etc.);
• the out-of-court settlement of disputes between contractors and contracting authorities in connection with the extraordinary increase in prices and costs of contract performance (good practices); 
• and the issue of the contracting authority's liability in terms of public finance discipline for failing to reach a settlement when the effects of the settlement are more favourable than the likely outcome of court proceedings.

The debate will be moderated by the SPZP representatives: Aldona Kowalczyk, Anna Specht-Schampera, Dr Piotr Bogdanowicz, and Jarosław Sroka.

The guests taking part in the debate will be:

- Mariusz Haładyj, President of the Polish General Prosecutor's Office and member of the Public Procurement Council;

- Marcin Grabski, Head of the Legal Department, City Roads Authority;

- Mariusz Ciosek, Coordinator of the Public Procurement Team in the Department of Economic Regulation Improvement, Ministry of Development;

- Ewa Wiktorowska, Member of the Public Procurement Council;

- Dariusz Renczyński, President of the Regional Chamber of Accounts in Białystok; and

- Marek Orlik, Director of the Dragados/Polaqua Legal Department.

For more information and to register, please click here.