The Principle of Effectiveness in Lithuanian Public Procurement Law: this way or no way

The European Commission has recently published a final study report on the Economic efficiency and legal effectiveness of review and remedies procedures for public contracts. The drafters of the report came to the conclusion that the Remedies directives have positive both direct and indirect effects. Direct effect is related to the “effective way for rapid action to be taken when there is an alleged breach of the Public Procurement Directives”. Meanwhile, the indirect positive effect of the Remedies directives is related to the possibility of the effective monitoring of the public procurement market as well as the deterrence effect the legal regulation creates, meaning that each member in the playfield knows that in case of a breach of the public procurement law the effective and smooth measures will be taken against any form of illegality that takes place in government commerce. Hence, the effectiveness of the remedies is of a crucial and vital importance on both EU and national level. This article is an analysis of the national case-law of Lithuania in the field of application of the effectiveness as a principle stemming from the Remedies directives. It aims to outline the approach Lithuanian courts deploy when dealing with the questions on proper application of the public procurement law as well as the exercise of one’s individual rights granted by the EU and national laws on public purchases. The author argues that the national judges view the effectiveness from the extremely broad perspective which makes the Lithuanian public procurement ecosystem very friendly for the tenderers.

The author presents the very notion of the effectiveness the way it is considered in the national case-law. He outlines the balance of obligations between the tenderers and the contracting authorities, examines the dynamics between these two groups of players during the public procurement process. Further he analyses suppliers’ capacity to challenge the decisions of the public purchaser. It is also shown how the principle shapes the whole remedies system and what effect it has overall.

The full article is published in the prestigious legal journal “European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review“