Blacklisting due to poor past performance in Lithuanian public procurement

Abstract

Purpose – to analyse the main rules of blacklisting due to poor past performance in Lithuanian public procurement. Design/methodology/approach – document analysis, comparison, generalisation. Finding – Blacklisting due to poor past performance in Lithuanian public procurement comes from the directive of European Union (2014/24), which came into effect in April 2016. It is designed to prevent corruption and protect from economic operators who do not perform public contracts properly. Blacklisting is introduced as a step-forward in Lithuanian public procurement. However, this new institution must be used wisely and no party can abuse the applicable rules. To ensure the proper implementation of blacklisting the Public Procurement Office and Lithuanian courts should prevent both economic operators and contracting authorities from abusing the newly introduced rules of blacklisting. Research limitations/implications – Blacklisting due to poor past performance is a new institution in Lithuanian public procurement and therefore it is still unknown how exactly it will function. Moreover, the new version of the Law on Public Procurement has not been adopted yet at the time the publication is being prepared, leaving it unclear how Lithuania will regulate the new institution. Finally, there are many situations where the Law on Public Procurement and EU directives are not detailed enough to answer some practical questions arising from the new legal regulation. The findings of this research paper may differ from the real practice, but this should be understandable. Practical implications – Blacklisting due to poor past performance in public procurement is particularly important to all economic operators participating in public procurement. No economic operator wishes to be blacklisted from participation in public procurement procedures in Lithuania for three years. Contracting authorities are also very interested in the new institution of public procurement and are concerned about how the new legal regulation of blacklisting due to poor past performance will function in practice. Originality/Value – Blacklisting due to poor past performance in public procurement is a brand new institution in Lithuania and so far there has been no scientific analysis of its functioning. This analysis is new and may have central importance in the future development of blacklisting in Lithuanian public procurement.