Central purchasing bodies: the case of Poland

The public procurement system in Poland is grounded on the Act of 11th September 2019 and the said Act also includes specific provisions relating to CPB. In Poland today, there are approximately 33 thousand contracting authorities in Poland, of which over 50% come from local government administration and its units, whilst only 0, 53% are contracting authorities from central government administration. In addition, there is one main CPB at the national level, and there are multiple CPBs at the regional and municipal level. The idea of CPBs was presented to the contracting authorities with the amendment to the Act on Public Procurement Law of 7th April 2006. In recent years, there have been increasing use of CPB in Poland due to complicated procurement procedures, a frequently changing legal environment and the need to look for savings and much more economically effective purchasing techniques. The use of CPB is increasing as it is treated not only as a tool to enable a contracting authority to deal with the formal and legal problems of public procurement but also as a solution to ensure a wider and effective implementation of the horizontal objectives. With the adoption of the new public procurement law, it is expected that the interest of CPB would be further enhanced. In line with the new public procurement law, the chapter discusses the position of Poland in relation to the structures and use of CPBs, the techniques of procurement relating to CPBs and joint procurement as well as the way in which CPB dealt with the concern of competition law and the SMEs participation, the situation on the liability between the parties and lastly the impact of COVID-19 in the global pandemic. © The Editors and Contributors Severally 2021.