Sectoral public procurement and the Tender Law are expected to be harmonized with EU legislation. In this context, the draft law to regulate public procurement in the transportation, energy, water and electronic communication sectors was scheduled for the first quarter of 2025 in the MTP. The regulation basically envisages a system in which organizations with defined competencies and certificates to participate in public tenders in the relevant fields are included. The MTP also stated that the procurement legislation will be updated for harmonization purposes.
A draft law to regulate public procurement in the transportation, energy, water and electronic communications sectors, which is also in line with European Union legislation, is back on the agenda. The Medium Term Program included an action to submit such a law to the Parliament in the first quarter of 2025.
A draft on sectoral public procurement was prepared in 2021, but was shelved after the consultation phase. The regulation covers the procurement of public institutions and organizations, excluding municipalities, state owned enterprises and companies with more than half of their capital owned by the state, in the aforementioned sectors. The regulation basically envisages a system in which organizations with predetermined competencies and certificates to participate in public tenders in the relevant fields are included.
Allows for specialized tenders
The Sectoral Public Procurement regulation allows for special tenders outside the Public Procurement Law in sectors where large budgets are allocated. One of its important features is that in these large-scale projects, some of the authorizations in various areas, especially exceptions in the Public Procurement Law, will be transferred to this law.
The EU regulation and the draft prepared in 2021 allow for tendering based on R&D or service development and tendering by negotiating with companies, apart from the known methods, in procurements covered by the scope. In the regulations section of the Medium Term Program, it was noted that public procurement legislation will be updated with an approach of digitization, innovation and sustainability in line with international norms and standards. In the same section, it was emphasized that sectoral public procurement regulation will be made. The 1st quarter of 2025 was given as the timing for both regulations.
The main element of the regulation is the certificate system. In the certificate system, companies will be examined in line with their competencies and the work they can undertake in the field subject to public procurement will be determined in advance, and accordingly, they will be able to be audited during and at the end of the work.
Expected to cover new tender methods
In addition to public procurement legislation, Turkey had previously conducted a comprehensive study on sectoral public procurement and prepared a draft in line with the EU directive. It is not specified to what extent the 2021 draft will be maintained in the new study. On the other hand, as it is based on EU legislation, new procurement methods are expected to be covered.
The two new procurement methods envisage a model for the procurement of goods and services that cannot be procured from the market, in which R&D agreements can be made with the relevant companies that allow for the development and redesign of the service or good. This model also includes the possibility of cooperation with more than one contractor. In the previous draft, this model was defined as “Innovative Cooperation Procedure”.
In the other model, previously called “competitive negotiation”, when there is a service or good that is unique and cannot be met with existing solutions, the service or good can be procured through negotiations with companies, but in this model, all economic operators can apply for qualification. As a result, as many companies as deemed appropriate will be invited to negotiate.
The regulation was mainly designed to increase efficiency and control in an area that is not only specialized but also subject to very high-priced tenders.
