The Impact of Government Ordinance no. 15/2021 on the Modification of Public Procurement Contracts and Sector Contracts

At the and of August 2021 Government Ordinance no. 15/2021 was adopted, which provides the updating of the contract prices resulting from the carrying out of public works financed from the state budget or local budgets. The adoption of this ordinance is a result of the excessive increase of the material prices this year, if we come down to raw materials like wood or ferrous products. In the absence of the possibility of adjusting the contract price, manufacturers would have to abandon the execution of the contract, which would have caused annulment of contracts and blocking many public investments. Government Ordinance no. 15/2021 therefore takes into account with priority the objectives/investment projects financed by the state budget or local budgets, the adjustment being applied to public/sector procurement work contracts in progress at the date of entry into force of this ordinance or those contracts for which the granting procedures are in progress on the date of its entry into force. The impact of Government Ordinance no. 15/2021 is also extended to the irredeemable external financing programs granted by the European Union, the managing authorities are forced to adopt, if necessary, regulations to implement this ordinance within 15 days after the enforcement of the ordinance, according to the rules specific to the irredeemable external financing programs. In this context, the study aims to analyze both the impact of Government Ordinance no. 15/2021 and the problems related to its application, the results of the research leading, hopefully, to the clarification, at least in part, of the issues raised.