LYNX provided comprehensive legal support to Poland’s Polaqua throughout its participation in a public procurement procedure valued at PLN 383,196,529.47.
We are pleased to announce that in mid-March a contract was signed between Polaqua sp. z o.o. and the General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA). Our Client will design and expand national road No. 25 on the Rychwał–Zbiersk section. The expansion of national road No. 25, connecting the southwest and northwest of Poland, including Kalisz, Konin, and Bydgoszcz, is one of GDDKiA’s most significant investments this year.
LYNX supported Polaqua at all stages of the procurement, advising on the submission of explanations and supplementary documents, and successfully representing Polaqua in two appeal proceedings before the National Appeals Chamber (KIO).
Our team secured the complete dismissal of appeals lodged by competing contractors, which sought to remove Polaqua from first place in the bid ranking.
In one of these appeal proceedings, initiated by a competitor, KIO fully upheld the arguments presented by LYNX. It agreed that where the Contracting Authority established a percentage limit for a component of the offer and that limit was exceeded, and the Authority did not possess sufficient information at the time of receipt to conclude that the discrepancy constituted a mistake, the offer cannot be effectively corrected and must therefore be rejected.
The appeal submitted by another contractor concerned technical issues relating to Polaqua’s responses to questions aimed at clarifying its offer. The Chamber’s decision confirms that in design-and-build procurement procedures, clarifications provided regarding the content of an offer do not necessarily reflect the final design solutions, which are completed at the contract execution stage. Consistent with the arguments LYNX presented in its pleadings and at the hearing, the Chamber also noted that offer clarifications must be interpreted in light of the specific questions posed.
Positive outcomes in similar cases – particularly in design-and-build procurements – underscore the importance of balancing a precise and formal approach to offer requirements with explanations of future design solutions that are appropriate to the stage of the process. This judgment may serve as a valuable reference for both contractors and contracting authorities when navigating offer clarification procedures.
Legal advice on this project was provided by Partner at LYNX Jarosław Sroka and Associate Michał Rusin.
For further information, please contact Jarosław Sroka (jaroslaw.sroka@lynx.legal).
