Audit of Public Procurement and Purchasing Procedures

GJW Gramza i Wspólnicy provides comprehensive audits of public procurement procedures and purchasing processes conducted both by entities required to apply the Public Procurement Law (PZP) and by organisations operating on the basis of internal regulations, project guidelines, or financing conditions.

Our work includes practical review of public procurement procedures. We focus not only on formal compliance with legal requirements, but also on identifying risks that may lead to the results of procedures or related expenditures being challenged. As part of our public procurement advisory services, we propose solutions that streamline the purchasing process and increase the security of its implementation.

In the case of co-financed projects, the audit also covers aspects related to the settlement of public funds, including the impact of procedures on the eligibility of expenditures, the reasonableness of costs, and compliance with state aid rules. We analyse whether the way procedures are conducted may lead to a selective advantage and whether the adopted solutions are market-based and defensible in the course of an inspection.

Comprehensive Scope of Audit and Review of Public Procurement

The scope of our services includes in particular:

• analysis of purchasing regulations and internal procurement procedures, including decision-making and control mechanisms,
• thorough verification of compliance with the Public Procurement Law (PZP): choice of procedure, estimation of contract value, description of the subject matter of the contract, conditions for participation, award criteria, communication, and deadlines,
• analysis of procurement documentation: notices, Terms of Reference / Description of the Subject Matter of the Contract (SWZ/OPZ), clarifications, minutes, tender evaluation, contractor selection, exclusions, and rejections,
• analysis of contracts and amendments to contracts concluded as a result of procurement procedures, including compliance of amendments with the requirements of the Public Procurement Law and the financing conditions,
• assessment of mechanisms ensuring impartiality and transparency of the procedure, including identification and handling of conflicts of interest,
• verification of the correct application of quality and non-price criteria and the manner in which the evaluation is documented,
• audit of public procurement procedures in projects financed from public funds, including EU project audits covering compliance with guidelines, the competitiveness principle, and documentation requirements,
• analysis of the impact of purchasing procedures on project settlement and the risk of expenditures being challenged, including the risk of financial corrections,
• consideration of state aid aspects: assessment of whether the method of contractor selection and the structure of performance generate a selective advantage, and whether the costs remain market-based and verifiable,
• design of remedial procedures: amendments to regulations, document templates, checklists, standards for reasoning, and archiving,
• specialised training for teams involved in the purchasing process, aimed at ensuring a consistent standard of procedures and documentation of decisions.

Audit Outcome

The outcome of the audit is practical implementation material: a description of the identified areas requiring attention, indication of corrective measures, and proposals for amendments to documents and procedures. We formulate our recommendations in a way that allows them to be applied directly in ongoing procedures, in preparing the organisation for public procurement inspections, and in the settlement of projects, including projects co-financed from European Union funds.

Our Approach

We conduct audits in a manner proportionate to the scale of the activity and the identified risks. Our lawyers draw on many years of experience in handling complex public procurement projects, focusing on the effective protection of clients’ interests and the security of the procedures conducted. Our public procurement audits are not limited to formal verification of documentation, but also include assessment of risks and the practical consequences of the solutions adopted.

The legal advice we provide in the area of public procurement is practical and implementation-oriented. We support clients in making decisions that are compliant with legal requirements, commercially justified, and defensible in the course of an inspection. In the case of an EU project audit, we examine, among other things, the estimation of contract value under the Public Procurement Law, including its proper documentation and the impact of procedures on the eligibility of expenditures.