Contracts related to public procurements in the polish legal system

The provisions of agreements that are made between a procurer and a contractor are of key significance in relation to the diligent performance of a public procurement. It should be noted that the value of the Polish public procurement market, according to the latest data provided by the Public Procurement Office, amounted to 167 billion PLN in 20101. This value constituted approx. 11.8% of the gross domestic product. 195,555 agreements that relate to public procurements were concluded in 20122. Procurements granted to foreign contractors constituted 13.7 billion PLN of the sum mentioned above. One can easily observe that the problem of public procurements constitutes a very socially sensitive matter in Poland. The aforementioned observation arises from the fact that there have been numerous public investments – concluded by way of public procurements – and that these investments were connected with the organization of the European Football Championships 2012 in Poland. These investments, above all, were connected with the construction of the sports infrastructure as well as roads and highways. To be precise, these investments relate to the construction of the National Stadium in Warsaw as well as the A2 highway, which is a fragment of the international E30 route. The subject matter of the issues described in this article will be the problems that arise from contracts concluded in relation to public procurements on the basis of Polish legal solutions. Firstly, the legal foundations that relate to the regulations of the agreements in question will be discussed. Next, the legal nature as well as special provisions concerning the Public Procurement Act, which refer to these agreements, will be taken into consideration. The article will end with a short summary

Current challenges and prospects for the development of the Polish public procurement

The article aims to identify measures that should be taken to create an effective model of Polish public procurement. The study addresses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the European Union policies on climate change and technological developments, including aspects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, on the Polish public procurement market. A dogmatic method is adopted. The current challenges and prospects of the Polish public procurement market are analysed from the perspective of the Public Procurement Law of 11 September 2019, which came into force on 1 January 2021. The study shows that the effective model of public procurement should be based, first and foremost, on increasing dialogue between the public and private sectors, increasing the implementation of so-called strategic procurement, and creating conditions for supporting the principle of competitiveness.The article aims to identify measures that should be taken to create an effective model of Polish public procurement. The study addresses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the European Union policies on climate change and technological developments, including aspects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, on the Polish public procurement market. A dogmatic method is adopted. The current challenges and prospects of the Polish public procurement market are analysed from the perspective of the Public Procurement Law of 11 September 2019, which came into force on 1 January 2021. The study shows that the effective model of public procurement should be based, first and foremost, on increasing dialogue between the public and private sectors, increasing the implementation of so-called strategic procurement, and creating conditions for supporting the principle of competitiveness

A Few Remarks Concerning the Changes in the Code of Administrative Proceedings

The subject matter of the remarks discussed in this paper will be the problem of changes that have been introduced on the basis of Polish administrative proceedings as a result of an amendment to the Code of Administrative Proceedings1 by virtue of the law passed on December 3rd 2010 that concerns changes to the law – Code of Administrative Proceedings and Statutes – Law on Administrative Courts Proceedings. This amendment was signed by the President of the Republic of Poland on December 23rd 2010 and came into force on April 11th 2011. It should be noted that this amendment has significantly changed a few basic rules concerning the CAD and has influenced the model of administrative proceedings in cases of e.g. the principle of distributing the burden of proof. The amendment of the CAD, discussed in this paper, should be treated as the most important amendment of this legal act, valid in the Polish law since 1960. In compliance with the legislature, three basic goals of the amendment should the noted.2 The first pertains to the will to improve the administrative proceedings by abolishing major restrictions and gaps present in the rules of law currently in force. The second goal pertains to the motivation of the parties taking part in the proceedings to be more active. The last point concerns the possibility of suing not only an inactive organ of public administration but also for excessive and unwarranted protraction of proceedings. Because of the limitations imposed on the length of this paper only the main areas of change will be discussed, such as the issues of: changes concerning the principle of objective truth, changes concerning the principle of the speed of the proceedings, changes concerning the commencement of administrative proceedings, changes concerning access to the documents related to the case, changes concerning the possibility of issuing cassations, and finally, changes concerning the possibilities of a resumption of the administrative proceedings

Kassationsklage im Modell Einer Zweiinstanzenwegigen Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit

Die zu Beginn des Jahres 2004 eingeführten Änderungen im Bereich des gerichtlichen Kontrollverfahrens der öffentlichen Verwaltung stellen unzweifelhaft eines der wesentlichsten Gesetzgebungsgeschehnisse in der polnischen Rechtsordnung der letzten Jahre dar. Ebenfalls kaum zu überschätzen ist die praktische Bedeutung der eingeführten Änderungen. Die Einführung der instanzenzügigen Verwaltungsgerichtskontrolle war vorausgesehen kraft Bestimmung des Art. 176 der Verfassung der Republik Polen in Verbindung mit Art. 236 Abs. 2 der Verfassung, die eine fünfjährige Frist - gerechnet ab dem Inkrafttreten der Verfassung - vorsah, um die die Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit zu reformierenden Gesetze zu verabschieden. Mittellinie für die Reform der Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit wurde die Einführung von gewöhnlichen Rechtsmitteln in den Verfahrensbereich. Zum ersten Mal in der Geschichte der polnischen Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit hat der Gesetzgeber für die Verfahrensbeteiligten die Möglichkeit geschaffen, die Einlegung üblicher Rechtsmittel in Anspruch zu nehmen, die eine Verifikation der im Instanzenzug erlassenen Entscheidungen in Betrieb setzen können. Hierbei ist festzustellen, dass die Einführung der Kassationsklage als Rechtsmittel, das die Erfüllung des Grundsatzes des Instanzenzuges eines Gerichtsverfahrens bildet, den Tragpfeiler darstellt, auf den sich die ganze Reform des Verfahrens vor Verwaltungsgerichten stützt. Die Einführung eines derartigen Rechtsmittels forderte die Gestaltung mehrerer neuer Lösungen, darunter das Schaffen von neuen Lösungen auf der Strukturebene der Verwaltungsgerichtsbarkeit, die das Funktionieren des Systems der gerichtlichen Instanzenkontrolle ermöglichten. Betrachtungsgegenstand des vorliegenden Beitrages wird daher die Problematik einer Kassationsklage als gewöhnliches Rechtsmittel sein, das bei Verfahren vor Verwaltungsgerichten eingelegt werden kann

Publiczne prawa podmiotowe w kontekście realizacji przez administrację publiczną norm zadaniowych

The analysis contained in this report concerns the question of public subjective rights in the context of public tasks. This issue is interesting due to the fact, among others, that it is related to the legal and actual situation of an entity — a citizen expecting the state, or more often local authorities, to guarantee e.g. access to health care services of adequate standard, or access to properly functioning services of local public transport. The question that arises in such a case is whether legal means serve the interest of the citizen, by allowing the enforcement of fulfilling the duties imposed on public administration by the regulations of positive law? The study attempts to answer this question

Partnerstwo publiczno-prywatne

The public-private partnership is one of the methods by which public authorities may fulfil tasks. The public-private partnership should be construed in a broad sense, as any kind of cooperation between the public and the private sector which aims to serve the broadly understood common good, or as a partnership cooperation to carry out relatively large projects aimed at providing public services. This cooperation has various structural/legal forms and configurations, depending on how advanced an integrated approach to the project is, as well as on the specific character of a given service and the type of services which are to be provided. Pursuant to union law, a public-private partnership can be described as a long-term, contractually regulated cooperation between public authorities and the private sector to carry out public assignments, in which the requisite resources are placed under joint management and project risks are apportioned appropriately on the basis of the risk management skills of the project partners. The purpose of public-private partnership contracts is to enable public authorities to benefit from the design, construction and management skills of private enterprises and, if necessary, from their financial skills. It gives a unique possibility of cooperation between the public and private sector. The special role of PPP is connected with the aspects of innovation and ”green” solutions. PPP is very popular in many EU countries, among others in: France, Germany and the UK. There are great expectations connected with this method in Poland. Since there are many needs in Polish infrastructure sector, it is of crucial importance to get the knowledge and adequate legal regulations refereeing PPP. The key role in PPP is played by economic and financial analyses, the choice of a private partner and the agreement. In this article, the author considers the possibilities of using PPP in Polish practice. There is also essential information about legal solutions in Poland

A new ECG-based method to guide catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia

International audienceINTRODUCTION Catheter ablation is used to treat ventricular tachycardia (VT). It uses radiofrequency energy to destroy a small part of heart tissue that is causing rapid and irregular heartbeats. Automated localization of VT exit sites can facilitate the long and often challenging ablation procedures but current methods are not accurate enough, cannot be used in some conditions, and often require detailed information about the patient's anatomy. The aim of this study was to optimize the accuracy of a previously proposed computer-based method for localization of arrhythmia exit sites. The effectiveness of the method was tested using simulated ECG data. We looked for optimal settings of the method allowing to apply it in clinical conditions.METHODS The proposed algorithm works on any set of 3 or more ECG leads. The QRS complex integral (QRSi) of an ectopic beat is reduced to principal components (PCs) treated as coordinates of the exit site in ECG space and then projected to real space by a linear transformation based on a small number of QRSis paced at known locations. The accuracy of the method was tested on 8 patient-tailored models of the human heart and torso. For each model ~500 simulations were run, each for a different stimulus location. A set of training points was randomly chosen and all other locations were then estimated from simulated surface ECGs. The absolute and relative (to a neighboring stimulation site) localization errors (in mm) were computed for a 252-lead ECG, and Frank VCG and using different numbers of training points and principal components.RESULTS The localization error depended on the size of the training set. By using patient’s mean transform matrix of stimulus position from ECG space to real space and Frank XYZ leads we found 15.5 ± 6.4 mm of mean absolute error. Starting from 9 pacing positions available and 3 PCs used we reached a similar level of mean error (15.22 ± 3.5 mm). With 20 stimulus points available and 7 PCs we got 10 ± 2 mm of error. Added noise had no significant influence on the results; even a 2 dB signal/noise ratio increased the error by only 1 mm.DISCUSSION This study suggests that the proposed method can predict exit sites with a precision in the order of a centimeter. By dynamically switching the settings of the algorithm it is possible to obtain better accuracy

The association of maternal gestational diabetes mellitus with autism spectrum disorders in the offspring

Wstęp. Istnieją dane wskazujące na związek między występowaniem cukrzycy przedciążowej u matki a ryzykiem zaburzeń ze spektrum autyzmu (ASD) u dziecka. Mniej jest dostępnych informacji dotyczących wpływu cukrzycy po raz pierwszy rozpoznanej w czasie ciąży (GDM) na ryzyko ASD. Badanie przeprowadzono w celu oceny częstości występowania ASD u dzieci matek, u których rozpoznano GDM. Materiał i metody. Autorzy przeanalizowali dokumentację medyczną pacjentek z GDM (947 kobiet, 1007 dzieci w wieku 4-6 lat) leczonych w Klinice Chorób Metabolicznych Szpitala Uniwersyteckiego w Krakowie w latach 1999-2011. Przeprowadzili również wywiad telefoniczny w celu zebrania danych klinicznych oraz informacji na temat parametrów biochemicznych. Wykonano test istotności, opierając się na rozkładzie dwumianowym prawdopodobieństwa w celu ustalenia, czy częstość występowania ASD u dzieci matek z GDM różniła się od dostępnych danych epidemiologicznych dotyczących ogólnej populacji polskich dzieci w wieku 0-18 lat. Sprawdzono również, czy istnieją inne istotne czynniki różnicujące matki z GDM w zależności od występowania ASD u ich potomstwa. Wyniki. Częstość występowania ASD u dzieci kobiet z GDM uczestniczących w badaniu autorów (8/1007) była wyższa niż w populacji polskich dzieci w wieku 0–18 (17,6/10 000; p = 0,0004). Stwierdzono, że w grupie matek dzieci z ASD przedciążowe mediany wartości wskaźnika BMI (20,862 vs. 23,529), SBP (110 mm Hg vs. 120 mm Hg) i DBP (70 mm Hg vs. 80 mm Hg) były niższe niż w grupie matek, u których dzieci nie rozpoznano ASD (odpowiednio p = 0,0349; p = 0,0149 i p = 0,0306). Urodzeniowa masa ciała dzieci z ASD była istotnie wyższa niż w przypadku dzieci bez ASD (3695 g vs. 3320 g; p = 0,0482). Wnioski. Częstość występowania ASD jest wyższa u dzieci matek z GDM niż w populacji ogólnej. Badanie potencjalnych czynników ryzyka ma podstawowe znaczenie dla lepszego zrozumienia tego zjawiska i ustalenia, jak mu zapobiec.Introduction. Some evidence exists for the association between exposure to pregestational maternal diabetes and risk of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in offspring. Less information is available on the association of exposure to maternal gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) with risk of ASD. We aimed to examine the prevalence of ASD disorders in offspring of mothers diagnosed with GDM. Material and methods. We analyzed data gathered from GDM patients (947 women; 1007 children aged 4-16 years) treated at the Department of Metabolic Diseases, University Hospital in Krakow from 1999 to 2011. We conducted a telephone survey to collect clinical information and biochemical parameters. We performed significance test based on the exact binomial probability to assess if the prevalence rate of ASD in offspring of mothers with GDM was different from available epidemiological data for children aged 0–18 years in Poland. We also checked whether there are any significant factors discriminating the mothers and offspring with and without ASD. Results. The prevalence of ASD in the offspring of mothers with GDM in our study (8/1007) was higher than in children aged 0-18 years in Poland (17.6/10000; p = 0.0004). The mothers of children with ASD had median pre-pregnancy BMI (20.862 vs. 23.529), SBP (110 mm Hg vs. 120 mm Hg) and DBP (70 mm Hg vs. 80 mm Hg) lower vs. group without ASD (p = 0.0349; p = 0.0149 and p = 0.0306 respectively). Birth weight of ASD children was significantly higher vs group without ASD (3695 g vs. 3320 g, p = 0.0482). Conclusions. The prevalence of ASD seems to be higher in offspring of mothers with GDM than in the general population. Studying the potential risk factors is crucial for better understanding of this phenomenon and it may be helpful to preventi it