A exigência de fundamentação na contratação pública como instrumento de salvaguarda da concorrência

The 2014 Directives reinforced the role of the preparation of the competitive procedures alongside the reinforcement of horizontal policies’ implementation. Some of the instruments related to these policies can be considered as a change to the central axis of public procurement procedure: competition. However, the legislator, when establishing new instruments, reformulating or strengthening others, also tried to reconcile these renewed goals with competition and transparency. The public procurement regime has therefore become more complex in order to accommodate the pursuit of various, often seemingly irreconcilable, policies. One of the legal instruments which is reinforced at the same time, both in the Directives and in the respective transposition in the Public Contracts Code (PCC), is the duty to state reasons. In this paper, we intend to demonstrate that at key moments in public procurement procedures regarding competition, whether in the formation of the contract or in the execution of the public contract awarded, the duty to state reasons and their scope serve as an instrument to safeguard competition.