Proces javne nabave usluga i roba te ustupanja građenja i/ili izvođenja radova u Republici Hrvatskoj trajno prate žalopojke i javnih naručitelja i gospodarskih subjekata. Javni naručitelji razumiju rezultat procesa javne nabave prinudom, a ponuditelji rezultat javne nabave prečesto osporavaju žalbama kroz koje traže zaštitu svojih prava, koja su, po njima, narušena u procesu javne nabave. Povremeno se čuje glas s obje pozicije da se primjenom Zakona o javnoj nabavi dobivaju rezultati koji generiraju daljnje nesporazume oko ocjene kvalitete postojećeg Zakona. Posebno drastične pokazatelje iskazuju procesi javne nabave inženjerskih konzultantskih usluga, gdje je primjena principa ekonomski najpovoljnije ponude iskrivljena do apsurda, koji kao posljedicu, izravno ili neizravno, uzrokuje društvenu štetu. U radu je istražena i analizirana aktualna legislativa, sučeljene su odredbe pojedinih zakona koji kreiraju prostor obavljanja inženjerskih konzultantskih usluga te je na ilustrativnim primjerima analizirana praksa javne nabave. Izneseni su i prijedlozi mogućeg poboljšanja, kako legislative tako i ponašanja sudionika javne nabave u svakodnevnoj praksi.The process of public procurement of services and goods and the assignment of construction and/or execution of works in the Republic of Croatia is permanently accompanied by complaints from both public contracting authorities and economic operators. Contracting authorities understand the result of the public procurement process by coercion, and bidders too often challenge the result of public procurement by appeals through which they seek the protection of their rights, which, according to them, are violated in the public procurement process. Occasionally, voices from both positions can be heard saying that the application of the Public Procurement Act produces results that generate further misunderstandings about the assessment of the quality of the existing Act. Particularly drastic indicators are expressed by the processes of public procurement of engineering consulting services, where the application of the principle of the most economically advantageous tender is distorted to the point of absurdity, which, as a result, directly or indirectly, causes societal damage. This paper explores and analyses current legislation, confronts the provisions of individual laws that create the space for performing engineering consulting services, and analyses the practice of public procurement on illustrative examples. Proposals for possible improvement of both the legislation and the behaviour of public procurement participants in everyday practice are also presented
