From the perspective of contracting authorities, the issue of abnormally low prices in public procurement is extremely important. This is not only because both the procurement Directives and national legislation in individual EU Member States require authorities to take certain steps to examine whether tenders submitted in a procedure contain an abnormally low price, but it is also important from a purely economic and organisational perspective. At the same time, the recent market instability has compounded the difficulties faced by contracting authorities in making rational decisions and pursuing pricing policies. This article takes the contracting authorities’ perspective, examining the powers and responsibilities that such authorities have when examining abnormally low prices and the practical difficulties of doing so.
Keywords: contracting authorities; abnormally low price; tender; obligation to examine; assessment; rejection