31.05.2021 10:47
Companies routinely participating in public tenders should pay due attention to the amendment of the Public Procurement Act, which came into effect on 1 January 2018.
The new rules include, among other things, a statutory obligation of the contracting authority to obtain information about the beneficial owner from the registry of beneficial owners with respect to the contractor whose offer has been assessed as economically most advantageous. If it is not possible to identify the beneficial owner from the registry, the contracting authority shall request a submission of an extract from a similar registry (in particular concerning foreign entities) or a disclosure of information about the persons who are the beneficial owners of the winning contractor.
Along with the identification information about the beneficial owner, the selected contractor must provide the contracting authority with documents showing the relationship of the beneficial owner to the contractor. These documents include, in particular, an extract from the Commercial Register or other similar registry, a list of shareholders, a decision of the statutory body on the payment of the share of the profit, and the articles of association, the memorandum of association or the statutes.
The data and documents listed above are required to be submitted by the selected contractor to the contracting entity within the time limit specified in the call for tender issued by the contracting authority. The time limit should be proportionate to the nature of the contract and the information and documents required. If the selected contractor fails to submit the required data and documents, the contracting authority is obliged to disqualify them from the tender procedure.
Although companies are required to ensure that information about beneficial owners is entered in the records by the end of 2018, we recommend that tenderers make such registration as soon as possible, thus avoiding any complications in procurement procedures.. If for any reason you do not record the information about beneficial owners, you will need to have the necessary data and documents available so that you can submit it to the contracting authority upon request.
Written by: Mgr. André Vojtek
More about the amendment of Act no. 304/2013 Coll.