Alternative Dispute Resolution in Public Procurement Focusing on Hungary
Copyright (c) 2024 Boros Anita, Szabó Kinga
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
In public procurement frameworks, bidding, contracting and performing contracts is notoriously more challenging than the bidding, contracting and performance of private contracts. The strict procedures of public procurement do not tolerate mistakes and reduce the possibility of compromise if conflicts arise.
This study examines whether the resolution of disputes arising in public procurement procedures with the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods can be integrated into the strict system of public procurement regulation. It also investigates whether the use of ADR can be justified in public procurement disputes at all, and whether it can handle them effectively. During our investigation, we reviewed the so-called preliminary dispute settlement (PDS) scheme, a special institution of Hungarian public procurement law. Although this mechanism is not a form of dispute resolution in the classical sense, since it does not involve consultation and does not result in compromise at all, the PDS process, as a widely used, quick and simple electronic procedure is an accepted formula in Hungary for settling public procurement procedure conflicts.
Keywords:
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