On 5 August 2025, the Sejm adopted the Act on the Certification of Public Procurement Contractors. It has been signed by the President of the Republic of Poland. The Act lays down the rules for the certification of public procurement contractors and the conditions for the use of a public procurement contractor’s certificate.
As indicated in the explanatory memorandum to the draft Act: “The objective of the proposed Act is to regulate, under Polish law, a certification procedure that will allow contractors to apply in Poland for certification and for the issue of a certificate confirming their status for the purposes of procurement procedures conducted by contracting authorities from the European Union. Certification will enable a contractor to confirm that it is not subject to exclusion from a contract award procedure, including in connection with the performance of self-cleaning within the certification procedure. Moreover, it will enable confirmation that the contractor has the capacity duly to perform a public contract (e.g. specific experience, technical and organisational resources, qualified staff) within the scope covered by the certification. The main premise of the certification of public procurement contractors is to reduce the obligations, both on the side of contractors and on the side of contracting authorities, related to the verification of the contractors’ standing (key premise: verification carried out once only). The use of a certificate is intended to contribute to a significant reduction in the time needed to prepare a tender.”
Under the provisions of the Act, certification of contractors is to be granted by so-called “certifying entities”, which themselves are subject to an accreditation procedure. Accreditation of entities applying for authorisation to certify public procurement contractors is granted by the Polish Centre for Accreditation (Polskie Centrum Akredytacji).
The Act should be assessed positively as a step towards simplifying and reducing the formalism of public procurement procedures.