Paulina Polak
Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian
University, Krakow, Poland
Efficient, transparent and competitive procedures of public procurement constitute one of the main indicators of a properly functioning state administration, both on central and local levels. Or, more generally speaking, of the whole public sphere. The complexity of the topic involves a very specific legislation and implementation of law. Moreover, it touches on the problems of legal culture, administrative accountability and institutional efficiency of the state, transparency of public life and pathologies such as various forms of corruption and state capture. It constitutes an indicator of public sphere’s organization, efficiency, accountability and independency. Further consequences of its functioning take effects upon the institutional stability and governability of the state.
First regulations of the sphere of
public procurement were launched in Poland in 1994. The Act on Public
Procurement was partially amended and finally replaced with the new Law on
Public Procurement in 2004.
My paper’s main aim is to explore the formal and informal mechanisms that regulate the use of public funds in Poland. Special attention will be given to some problems which need to be pinpointed. Legal frameworks, provisions and control mechanisms will be confronted with real-life situations and inner logic of the system.
The analysis will be based on a series on interviews conducted with Polish public procurement officials. The main hypothesis relates to a normative turn that occurs in public procurement due to Poland’s accession to the EU. Interviews indeed indicate a certain positive tendency, which could be ascribed to the influence of the EU and recent legal amendments. The tendency involves increase of legal awareness, competition and general transparency of the system. Yet, some persisting problems and irregularities still remain and must be recognized. Therefore, the main focus will be on implementation of law, especially concentrating on changes caused by the 2004 public procurement legislation and Poland’s accession to the EU. The problems of compatibility of law and real-life practices, integrity of public procurement law, its inconsistencies and their negative influence upon everyday functioning of the system will be examined. Moreover, the importance of red tape and overly bureaucratic regulations will be stressed. The inertial persistence, influence and scale of pathologies – corruption, networking and tender-rigging will be of particular interest as obstacles to proper tendering and results of legal and cultural lags.