Public procurement procedures in Turkey
| Pages | 100-129 |
| Date | 01 March 2006 |
| Published date | 01 March 2006 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-06-01-02-2006-B005 |
| Author | Sakire Kural,Umit Alsac |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public Finance/economics,Texation/public revenue |
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, VOLUME 6, ISSUES 1 & 3, 100-129 2006
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PROCEDURES IN TURKEY
Sakire Kural and Umit Alsac*
ABSTRACT. Turkey transformed the public procurement procedures in year
2002 by two laws; Public Procurement Law and Public Procurement Contracts
Law. This situation brought about challenges for the stakeholders from both the
public sector and private sector. This paper presents an analysis of the new
public procurement procedures to understand the path from the determination of
the need to the signing of the contract as well as several special provisions for
consultancy services, complaint reviews and statistics of the last two years.
INTRODUCTION
In Turkey, public procurement is an important aspect of the economy.
One study1 shows that the ratio of total public expenditures on goods,
services and works to GDP varied between 20-25% in 1999-2003. In
2003 the total value was estimated as approximately $54 billion (22% of
GDP). The allocation of this value according to the types of contracting
authorities is as follows: 56% State Economic Enterprises (SEE), 21%
central government and universities, 9% local administrations, 7% social
security institutions and 7% others. Among the procurement
expenditures of state economic enterprises, basic utilities (such as
petroleum and natural gas imported by related SEEs, electricity procured
from concessionaires) comprise the majority. However the exact
decomposition of all of the expenditures on public procurement is not
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* Sakire Kural, LLB, is the Chief Legal Adviser of the Public Procurement
Authority, Turkey. Her research interests include EU Procurement Practices,
international dispute resolution mechanisms in public procurement and
international arbitration. Umit Alsac, BS, is an Assistant Public Procurement
Expert at the Public Procurement Authority, Turkey. His research interests
include e-procurement, procurement norms of the international organizations,
public procurement in the health sector and the regulatory impact analysis.
Copyright © 2006 by PrAcademics Press
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PROCEDURES IN TURKEY 101
available due to the dispersion of the public entities among different
budget types, and there is a risk of double counting since an output of a
public entity may be an input for another public entity. Therefore, the
figures mentioned above may be a bit overstated although they are good
approximations.
Public procurement is conducted generally in a decentralized way.
There is a central procurement agency (SSA-State Supply Agency) that
procures various goods such as stationary, computers, office equipment
and vehicles and sells these items to public entities. However, purchasing
from SSA is not compulsory.
In 2002 there was an important reform in the public procurement
system. Turkish Public Procurement Law (PPL) No. 4734 and Public
Procurement Contracts Law (PPCL) No. 4735 were ratified on
04/01/2002 and enforced as of 01/01/2003. Before these two laws,
procurement procedures of central government agencies and local
governments were carried out in accordance with State Tender Law.
State Tender Law regulated both sales and procurement of the entities in
its scope. The other public authorities and entities conducted their
procurement procedures according to their own regulations. So, there
were many procurement regulations among public entities. State Tender
Law, ratified in 1983, was not compatible with the needs of a changing
public and business environment.
PPL and PPCL are in accordance with several international
regulations on public procurement such as UNCITRAL Model Law, EU
Directives on Public Procurement and WTO Government Procurement
Agreement. Procurements by most public entities are included in the
scope. Administratively and financially autonomous Public Procurement
Authority has been established to coordinate, regulate and review the
public procurement procedures. A complaint review mechanism has been
established for complainant tenderers. Time periods have been
lengthened in order to assure that responding tenders are prepared. The
contacts awarded in accordance with PPL are regulated in a separate law
(PPCL).
This paper describes the basic features of PPL in terms of scope,
exceptions and basic principles; the procurement procedure that will be
conducted from the determination of the need to the signing of the
contract with the successful tenderer in accordance with PPL; the
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