Unprofessionalism, bias, inequality: the Integrity Authority has filed a complaint

Public procurement procedure was proper and fair

Following the Public Procurement Arbitration Board’s (PPAB) decision to void the Integrity Authority’s communications procurement procedure, the Authority is seeking judicial review against the Board’s decision citing breaches of public procurement rules, biased administrative procedure, arbitrary disregard of procedural statutory time limits, disregard of the requirement of equality before the law and unprofessional findings. The Integrity Authority has submitted its relevant complaints to the competent court, asking the annulment of the PPAB’s decision on the grounds of absence of infringement.

The Integrity Authority (IA) has already expressed its view that the Public Procurement Arbitration Board’s decision to annul the Authority’s public procurement procedure for communications, following an appeal by New Land Media, is both unlawful and professionally unfounded. Therefore, it is now bringing the case to court. In its claim, the Authority details that the Arbitration Board’s decisions, which annulled the public procurement procedure, presented the procedure solely from the point of view of New Land Media Kft., a company favoured in government procurements for communications, and did not present the IA’s counterarguments.

In its claim, the Integrity Authority provides facts and evidence to demonstrate that its procurement procedure was professionally sound, presented fair competition criteria, and was executed lawfully. The IA also draws attention to the fact that, contrary to the documentary evidence, the Arbitration Board failed to state in its decisions that it was New Land Media Kft. that had requested the Board to carry out an ex officio investigation.

 “The Integrity Authority wishes to emphasise that the PPAB’s decision is highlighting the weaknesses of the Hungarian public procurement system, which the Authority has already pointed out in 4 reports over the last two years, following adequate investigations: the rules can be easily abused and do not serve their purpose to ensure that contracting authorities can buy the right quality of services at best price. At first, the Public Procurement Authority approved our call for tenders, in which we had previously incorporated their technical comments, and then, following a complaint by New Land Media, the Public Procurement Arbitration Board found the same tender call to be in violation of the law”, said Ferenc Pál Biró, President of the Integrity Authority.

The Integrity Authority launched its European Union, open public procurement procedure on 9 April 2024 to select adequate professional partners for the implementation of the Authority’s media plan and supporting its education and awareness raising objectives, including its anti-corruption communications campaigns. The Authority’s call for tenders allowed for broad participation. The procedure was finally closed with five applicants. Then, following the appropriate evaluation procedures and an assessment by a panel of experts independent from the Authority, the results were announced on 9 July 2024, which were later contested by New Land Media. The PPAB annulled the procedure, stating that it went against regulations, even though New Land Media had itself considered it to be lawful during the preparatory phase of the procedure.

In its argument, the IA’s primary complaint is that the Arbitration Board had unlawfully disregarded the statutory time limits, had failed to establish that New Land Media Kft.’s applications for review were submitted late, had not rejected them, and had initiated remedy proceedings without complying with legal requirements. The IA has pointed out that the Arbitration Board is not authorised by legislature to carry out an ex officio investigation on its own initiative. In the IA’s view, a consistent public procurement practice rules out the PPAB’s actions to exercise the rights of the participants in the procurement procedure on their behalf, following the expiry of the statutory time limits.