PM’s office to hold consultations on public procurement law

Budapest, April 29 (MTI) – The prime minister’s office will initiate consultations on the recently enacted public procurement law with contracting authorities, professional chambers and consultants.

The daily Magyar Idők quoted the prime minister’s office on Friday as saying that the law is “not set in stone”.

The article notes that earlier the association of construction entrepreneurs ÉVOSZ had proposed two amendments to the law with the aim of reducing debt chains. They wanted to include a clause prescribing that tender winners can only be paid by the government if they can provide proof of having paid their own subcontractors. They also want to scrap a rule saying that payment for subcontractors cannot exceed fifty percent of the prime contractor’s total asking price.

The prime minister’s office told Magyar Idők in connection with ÉVOSZ’s proposal that under the new procurement law, prime and subcontractors must be paid at the same time, which they said was a more effective way of tackling the issue of debt chains. They said the “fifty percent rule” ÉVOSZ wanted to eliminate needed to be kept because it helped weed out shell companies from the tender process.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters