Decision No D.396/23/2025 by the Public Procurement Arbitration Board

Based on an ex officio initiative submitted by the Integrity Authority against Parts 1 to 3 of the public procurement procedure titled “Expansion and renovation of kindergartens and a nursery in Szigetvár”, conducted by the Municipality of Szigetvár, the Public Procurement Arbitration Board (hereinafter: PPAB) found that the contracting authority, the successful tenderer and another tenderer had all committed infringements and imposed fines on them.

The PPAB established that the contracting authority had unlawfully used the procedure under Section 115(1) and (2) of Act CXLIII of 2015 on public procurement (hereinafter: PPA), involving the direct invitation of five tenderers without the publication of a contract notice, as the estimated value of the procedure exceeds the HUF 300 million threshold established as a statutory condition for its application. The contracting authority should have launched and conducted a public procurement procedure commencing with the publication of a contract notice, thereby ensuring the possibility for all potential economic operators to submit tenders.

In its decision, the PPAB also held that the contracting authority had failed to prepare the technical documentation and to determine the estimated value for Part 2 of the public procurement procedure properly and on the basis of the actual technical condition, which led to the termination of the contract concluded for Part 2, as even the statutory conditions for contract amendment were not met.

Based on the examination of tender metadata and the corresponding timestamps, the PPAB also established that the tenderers had materially breached fair competition requirements as set out in Section 2(1) of the PPA. The contracting authority also failed to fulfil its obligation to ensure fair competition and should have declared all tenders invalid and the public procurement procedure unsuccessful.

The contracting authority requested judicial review of Decision No D. 396/23/2025 of the PPAB.   

The PPAB joined cases No D.394/2025. and No D.395/2025, launched upon the initiative of the Integrity Authority, to case No D.396/2025. In all three cases, a consolidated decision was made as described above.