EPPPL 2024: Report from Greece – Public Procurement Developments
Dr. Stelios Tsevas & Marilia Platsa
A. Court of Audit Audit Report (2022-2023)
The Hellenic Court of Audit identified five substantive defects [ουσιώδεις πλημμέλειες] during precontractual audits:
- Unjustified exceptional procedures: Recourse to negotiation without publication due to urgency must be strictly justified and provable.
- Disproportionate selection criteria: Restricting accumulation of third-party capabilities must abide strictly by proportionality.
- Failure to split into lots: Skipping contract division into lots without proper tender reasoning unlawfully restricts SME access.
- Unsuitable scoring criteria: Personnel experience must directly impact quality to serve as an evaluation scoring criterion.
- Unlawful concession modifications: Sub-concessions cannot permit unconditional modifications without initiating new tender procedures.
B. Council of State Judgment 1019/2024
The Council of State ruled that the privatization procedure for 67% of the shares of a Port S.A. held the character of a concession contract under Law 4413/2016, placing it under standard public procurement review mechanisms.