Řízení námitek v zadávacím řízení

Objections as a Key Tool: Why Are They More Than Just a Complaint?

In reality, objections are a formalized legal tool precisely defined by the Act on Public Procurement (ZZVZ) under Czech legislation, which serves to protect fair competition. They are the primary, and in most cases mandatory, step to protecting your rights as a supplier.

The strategic goal of filing objections is not merely "complaining", but actively enforcing the rules of the game. You are protecting not only your investment of time and resources spent preparing the bid, but also contributing to the transparency and legality of the entire market. Filing professionally drafted objections is the sign of a sophisticated and confident supplier who knows their rights and is not afraid to use them.

The key concept you must prove for a successful objection is the existence or threat of harm to your rights. It is crucial to understand that harm is a much broader concept than direct financial damage. You do not need to quantify lost profits. Harm can consist, for example, of discriminatory conditions preventing you from submitting a competitive bid, or even discouraging you from participating in the procedure altogether.

This broader interpretation, also supported by the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS), is a strategic advantage for suppliers. It allows you to proactively defend against procedural injustice without having to wait for specific, quantifiable damage to occur. This is precisely where the value of expert legal advice becomes apparent.

Our Prague-based Czech legal team at ARROWS helps clients daily to assess whether harm is threatened or has occurred in their specific case, and to formulate this key aspect of the objections to make it legally bulletproof.

Identifying the Problem: When and Against What Can You File Objections?

To effectively defend your rights, you must first recognize when the contracting authority makes a mistake. The law gives you broad options for defense against a wide range of errors. It is not just about the final decision on the winner, but about any step (or, conversely, inaction) of the contracting authority throughout the entire procedure.

Objections can be filed in particular against:

• Procurement documents: This is the most common and important area. You can challenge discriminatory qualification criteria, disproportionate technical specifications, unclear evaluation criteria, or any other condition that unreasonably restricts competition.

• Choice of the type of procurement procedure: If you believe that the contracting authority chose an incorrect, for example less transparent, procedure, you can defend yourself.

• Exclusion from the procedure: The decision on your exclusion must be lawful and properly justified. If it is not, you have the right to file objections.

• Decision on the selection of the supplier: If you suspect that the evaluation of bids did not take place in accordance with the law and the procurement documents, you can challenge the selection decision.

• The contracting authority's procedure outside the procurement procedure: If the contracting authority attempts to award a contract "without competition" even though it should have proceeded under the law, you can challenge this procedure and demand the initiation of a proper procurement procedure.

Imagine you are a construction company specializing in renovations. In a contract for the repair of a historical building, the contracting authority requires a reference for three newly built logistics halls in the last two years. Such a requirement is clearly unrelated to the subject of the contract and may represent hidden discrimination aimed at favoring other suppliers. This is precisely the situation where filing objections is not only appropriate but also strategically necessary.

The Czech legal team at ARROWS has experience with more than 400 corporate clients and can quickly identify even the most subtle forms of hidden discrimination or other discrepancies in the procurement documents that could jeopardize your chances.

Common Mistakes of Contracting Authorities

A Race Against Time: What Deadlines Must You Unconditionally Meet?

In the world of public procurement, time is relentless. Missing the deadline for filing objections means an automatic and irreversible loss of the right to defense in the matter. There are no exceptions. Therefore, knowledge and strict adherence to deadlines are absolutely crucial.

The basic deadlines you must remember are as follows:

• General 15-day deadline: For most actions of the contracting authority (e.g., against an explanation of the procurement documents that you consider insufficient), you must deliver the objections within 15 days from the day you became aware of the alleged breach of law.

• Objections to procurement documents: This is one of the most important deadlines. Objections to the procurement documents as a whole must be delivered to the contracting authority no later than the end of the deadline for submission of bids. This is an objective deadline that cannot be extended.

• Objections to exclusion or selection of a supplier: Here, a 15-day deadline runs from the day the respective decision of the contracting authority was delivered to you.

• Objections to a voluntary announcement of intent to conclude a contract: If the contracting authority announces that it wants to conclude a contract without competition, you have 30 days from the publication of this announcement to file objections.

The 2023 amendment to the ZZVZ brought an important change, the so-called "72-hour rule". The contracting authority can now reserve in the procurement documents that objections to the procurement documents must be filed no later than 72 hours before the end of the deadline for submitting bids. This step was intended as a defense against obstructive objections filed at the last minute, but for suppliers, it means the need for even greater vigilance and the need to analyze the documentation with lawyers as early as possible.

It must be emphasized that all these deadlines are substantive. This means that the objections must be physically delivered to the contracting authority by the given deadline; it is not enough to send them by mail or data box on the last day. Even a one-minute delay leads to the rejection of the objections as late.

Managing these deadlines is key to success. Our Prague-based team at ARROWS not only knows all relevant deadlines but proactively monitors them for you so you can focus on preparing a winning bid.

The Art of Argumentation: How to Draft Objections That the Contracting Authority Cannot Ignore?

A successful objection is not an emotional letter, but a precise legal submission. Its goal is to clearly, understandably, and based on evidence prove that the contracting authority violated the law and that you are threatened with or have suffered harm. The quality of the drafting of the objections directly affects your chance of success and forms the basis for any subsequent proceedings before the ÚOHS.

According to Section 244 of the ZZVZ, every objection must contain five key elements:

1. Who is filing the objections (your exact identification).

2. What they are directed against (the specific action or omission of the contracting authority).

3. What you see as a violation of the law (specific sections and principles of the ZZVZ).

4. What harm threatens you or has occurred (e.g., inability to submit a bid, loss of a chance to win).

5. What remedy you are seeking (e.g., cancellation of procurement documents, cancellation of the exclusion decision).

The strength of your argumentation must stand on facts and law, not on feelings. To demonstrate expertise, it is advisable to rely on the basic principles of the ZZVZ, which the contracting authority must observe at every stage of the procedure. The two most important are:

• Principle of transparency: The entire procedure of the contracting authority must be transparent, legible, and reviewable in retrospect. Any ambiguity, vagueness in the procurement documents, or insufficient justification of its steps is a violation of this principle.

• Prohibition of discrimination: The contracting authority must not set conditions that unreasonably favor or, conversely, disadvantage certain suppliers. This can be overt discrimination (e.g., a requirement for a specific product brand) or hidden discrimination (e.g., disproportionate qualification requirements).

The contracting authority has a statutory obligation to respond "in detail and understandably" to all facts you state in its decision on the objections. This obligation is your strategic weapon. A carefully structured and argumentatively strong objection will force the contracting authority either to admit its mistake or to write a response that will itself be legally challengeable for its inadequacy. This increases the chances of success in the next round before the ÚOHS.

Our Prague-based Czech legal team at ARROWS specializes in formulating objections that are not only formally flawless but, above all, argumentatively strong. We build on precise analysis, evidence, and deep knowledge of the decision-making practice of the ÚOHS, thereby maximizing the chance of success already in this first phase.

After Filing Objections: What Happens Next and What Are the Risks?

Filing objections sets in motion a precisely defined process. It is not a matter of passive waiting, but an active phase where you must know your rights and next steps. From the moment the objections are delivered, the contracting authority has a 15-day deadline to review them and send a written decision.

The most important immediate effect of timely filed objections (against exclusion, selection of a supplier, and other actions) is the so-called standstill period (Section 246 of the ZZVZ). The contracting authority must not conclude a contract with the selected supplier until it decides on your objections and until the deadline for submitting a proposal to the ÚOHS has expired. This gives you crucial time and leverage over the contracting authority to take your arguments seriously.

There are three possible outcomes of the objection procedure:

1. The contracting authority complies with the objections: It acknowledges its error and states in the decision what corrective measure it will take (e.g., cancels the discriminatory condition).

2. The contracting authority rejects the objections: It disagrees with your arguments. In this case, it must justify its decision in detail and understandably. This opens the way for you to submit a proposal for review to the ÚOHS.

3. The contracting authority does not decide within the deadline: If the contracting authority does not send a decision within 15 days, a so-called fiction of rejection occurs. The law assumes that it rejected the objections, and you can proceed directly to the ÚOHS.

Even if the contracting authority rejects your objections, nothing is lost. Our specialists at ARROWS will immediately analyze its decision, assess its legal quality, and prepare a strategy for the next step – submitting a proposal to the ÚOHS. The deadlines, calculation of the deposit, and the most common mistakes after the rejection of objections are discussed in the article The contracting authority rejected your objections in the procurement procedure.

Risks in the Objection Handling Phase

When Objections Are Not Enough: The Path to the Office for the Protection of Competition (ÚOHS)

If the contracting authority rejects your objections, the next logical step is to submit a proposal for review of its procedure to the ÚOHS. This procedure is already a full-fledged administrative proceeding before an independent state administration body, where professional legal representation is an absolute necessity for success.

It is critically important to realize that proceedings before the ÚOHS are not a "new beginning". The Office reviews only those facts and arguments that you have already raised in the objections submitted to the contracting authority. The principle of concentration of proceedings means that what was not in the objections cannot be added later at the ÚOHS. Therefore, the quality of the original objections is absolutely crucial – it is the cornerstone on which your entire subsequent defense stands.

The process of submitting a proposal to the ÚOHS has strict rules:

• Deadlines: You must deliver the proposal to the ÚOHS (and a copy to the contracting authority) within 10 days of receiving the decision rejecting the objections, or within 25 days of sending the objections if the contracting authority did not respond.

• Deposit: Filing a proposal is associated with the obligation to deposit a security on the ÚOHS account. Its amount is usually 1% of your bid price, but at least CZK 50,000 and at most CZK 10 million. The deposit serves as a filter against vexatious proposals and, in case of failure, is forfeited to the state. In case of success, it will be returned to you.

• Form and requirements: The proposal is submitted exclusively electronically (via data box or with an electronic signature) and must contain all statutory requirements, including proof of delivery of the objections to the contracting authority and proof of payment of the deposit.

Representing clients before the ÚOHS and subsequently before administrative courts is one of the key specializations of ARROWS. Our extensive experience from dozens of proceedings and knowledge of decision-making practice allow us to effectively defend your rights and maximize the chances of canceling the unlawful procedure of the contracting authority.

International Contracts: Specifics and Opportunities in the Global Market

In a globalized world, Czech companies increasingly participate in contracts abroad, and foreign suppliers, in turn, compete in the Czech market. This international element brings specific challenges that require expert knowledge and often cross-border legal support.

Foreign suppliers in the Czech Republic often encounter obstacles related to proving qualification. They must demonstrate not only tax and criminal clearance in their home country, but often also in relation to the Czech Republic. The recognition of foreign professional qualifications and certificates or the language of the submitted documents can also be problematic.

Furthermore, the legal environment has recently become more complex. The new EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) requires notifying financial contributions from third-country governments for large contracts (over EUR 250 million), which can lead to an investigation by the European Commission and exclusion from the procedure. Similarly, it is necessary to verify whether international sanctions apply to the supplier or its key subcontractors.

This growing complexity creates significant risks for companies, but at the same time, a demand for highly specialized advice. It is precisely for these situations that we have built our ARROWS International network over ten years. Thanks to it, we can resolve legal issues with an international element for our clients practically daily, whether it is helping a foreign supplier in the Czech market or supporting a Czech company expanding abroad. We thus ensure a smooth and safe course of the entire process.

Concluding Summary

Success in the world of public procurement is not a matter of chance. It is the result of careful preparation, a sharp strategy, and the ability to effectively defend your rights. Objections are not an obstacle, but one of the most important tools at your disposal to ensure fair competition. Remember that timeliness is key, arguments must be precise and supported by evidence, and the early involvement of legal experts can decide success or failure.

At ARROWS, we understand that for our clients, every public contract is a significant business opportunity. Our experience is proven by long-term cooperation with a portfolio of more than 150 joint-stock companies, 250 limited liability companies, and 51 municipalities and regions. We pride ourselves on speed of response and uncompromising quality, because in the dynamic world of public procurement, days, sometimes even hours, decide.

But our role does not end with paragraphs. We are proud that we can connect our clients if we see interesting business or investment opportunities. We would also love to hear your business story.

The world of public procurement is full of opportunities, but also risks. Do not leave your success to chance. Whether you face a specific problem or want to set your strategy for future success, we are here for you. Contact us at consultation@arws.cz to arrange a non-binding consultation.