Expertise
Legal consultation in public procurement procedures and CNSC challenges
Last updated: May 2026
We provide specialized legal consultation at all stages of public procurement procedures, concessions and public-private partnerships (PPP). We assist both contracting authorities and economic operators in drafting documentation, formulating clarification requests and challenges, negotiating and executing contracts.
Expertise in complex procurement procedures
Drafting technical and financial offers, legal opinions and complete documentation for participation in tenders.
Representation before the National Council for Solving Challenges and before courts of law.
Drafting and supporting challenges against contracting authority decisions and ordered remedies.
Legal assistance throughout contract execution, contract amendments and dispute resolution.
Complete preparation of participation documentation, with emphasis on compliance with tender specifications requirements.
Strategic assistance in identifying grounds for challenge and drafting the corresponding documentation.
Supporting positions in administrative and judicial proceedings for resolving challenges.
Specialized assistance for procurements under European-funded projects with specific requirements.
Negotiating addenda, resolving contractual disputes and protecting interests during the execution phase.
Standard public procurement procedure
Procedure with pre-qualification
For complex contracts
With or without prior publication
Simplified procedure
Complex contractual structures
Public procurement is the set of procedures through which a contracting authority buys goods, services or works using public funds. Its purpose is to ensure equal treatment, transparency and efficient use of public money. Any economic operator that meets the qualification criteria may participate, and the authority's decisions can be challenged.
The right procedure makes the difference between a contract won and a bid rejected on a ground that could have been avoided. The stakes are high, the deadlines are short and final, and a formal error can eliminate an otherwise winning offer. Legal assistance is therefore not a cost, but an investment in the real chance of award.
Public procurement in Romania is governed by a package of four laws adopted in 2016, transposing the European directives. Knowing which law applies to each procedure is essential, because the deadlines and the available remedies differ.
Classic public procurement. Governs the award of supply, services and works contracts by contracting authorities.
Sectoral procurement. Applies to entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors.
Works and services concessions, including public-private partnership structures.
Remedies and appeals. Sets the time limits for challenges and organizes the National Council for Solving Challenges (CNSC).
For Contracting Authorities
Drafting award documentation
Assistance in selection procedures
Challenge management
Procedural audit and compliance
For Economic Operators
Preparing and submitting bids
Challenging award decisions
Protecting interests during execution
Recovery of guarantees and payments
Related areas
Frequently asked questions
Deadlines are short and forfeitable. For procedures above the EU threshold, a challenge before CNSC must be filed within 10 days of becoming aware of the contested act (from communication of the result or publication of the notice). For national-threshold procedures, the deadline is 5 days. Failure to challenge in time renders the act final. The challenge suspends the procedure only for certain acts and subject to depositing a security.
Under Law 101/2016, bidders may choose: administrative challenge before CNSC (National Council for Solving Complaints) or direct action before the Tribunal, administrative-litigation section. CNSC offers a fast-track procedure (decision within 20–30 days) and is preferred when speed matters. Direct judicial route is more suitable for complex legal issues or when the probability of success at CNSC is low. CNSC decisions can be challenged before the Court of Appeal.
An unacceptable bid contains a price exceeding the estimated value beyond legal thresholds or is incompatible with the funding source. A non-compliant bid does not meet the technical, financial or legal requirements in the tender documentation. An inadmissible bid is submitted by an economic operator that does not meet qualification criteria or is in an exclusion situation. Correct classification is essential. A bid wrongly declared non-compliant can be reinstated through challenge.
Most frequent grounds for annulment: restrictive or discriminatory requirements not objectively justified, unclear evaluation factors that prevent objective comparison, breach of the transparency principle (unpublished documentation amendments), conflict of interest of evaluators, unmotivated or biased technical evaluation, and failure to observe procedural deadlines. Early identification of vulnerabilities can lead either to procedure correction or to its annulment.
Last updated: May 2026