The Public-Private Character of Activities of the Contracting Entity

Abstract

The aim of the article is to determine the nature of activities of the contracting entity. Public procurement combines the elements of civil, administrative, economic, and financial law. This solution makes the activities of the contracting entity difficult to classify unambiguously as either public or private. Essentially, the contracting entity’s activities are aimed at the conclusion of a civil law contract, but a number of its tasks are of an administrative or public-law nature (e.g., the obligation to publish a contract notice). In addition, contracting entities are subjected to auditing on the part of the economic operators themselves as part of the appeal proceedings and external audit on the part of a specialized State auditing body – the President of the Public Procurement Office. The contracting entity spends public funds, therefore a number of obligations have been imposed on it to ensure the money is spent as efficiently as possible. Hence, it seems that it is the public element that prevails in the contracting entity’s activities.