The public procurement sector is both a highly competitive industry and an area of law riddled with complex statutory and regulatory rules. In light of the ever shifting laws and regulation, followed by the increasing state oversight of public contract awards, the necessity for truly expert and holistic legal guidance has grown exponentially.
Sarakinos Law boasts a longstanding tradition in the public procurement domain and has played a pivotal role in shaping case law concerning various facets of the tender process. We are recognized as one of the country’s leading public procurement practices.
Thanks to our unique, diverse, successful, and comprehensive strategic planning, along with our significant experience in the operation of businesses and public bodies, we are a primary provider of holistic legal services encompassing all aspects of public procurement. This includes assisting on every phase of a public tender process, from preparation and submission to evaluation and the execution, as well as the legal representation before the relevant authorities.
For Bidders, our services include:
- Assessment of the invitation to tender from a legal and business perspective, highlighting participation methods, eligibility criteria and required documents; drafting clarification questions towards contracting authorities and communicating with them on all client’s participation issues.
- Custom strategic planning (via a flow chart) to ensure accurate and timely tender preparation and submission.
- Monitoring, preparing and submitting tenders and all required docs via the electronic platform.
- Ongoing support during the tender process.
- Evaluation of the issued decisions and the award contract.
- Continuous legal support during the execution phase.
- Representation before the administrative authority and competent courts.
For Contracting Authorities, we provide:
- Guidance on necessary decisions for initiating a tender process via our flow chart method.
- Preparation of the invitation to tender, along with its supporting documents.
- Consultation on all legal facets related to the tender and bid evaluation.
- Drafting the authority’s responses and opinions to bidders’ inquiries, out-of-court or court claims.
- Tackling intricate bid evaluation challenges.
- Oversight and support during contract award implementation.
Our recent highlights include:
- Assisting one of the largest publishers in Greece with over EUR 500.000 public tenders.
- Consulting a major Greek clothing manufacturer on over EUR 100.000 public tenders related to supplying uniforms and other specialized clothing to the police, military and other public entities.
- Advising a leading Greek consulting firm on over EUR 1 mil public tenders about public bodies’ compliance with various laws (GDPR, Whistleblowing etc.).
- Counseling a prominent international, EU-based, energy company on EUR 2 mil public tenders concerning solar panel projects and energy parks.
- Assisting one of the Greece’s largest milk suppliers with over EUR 400.000 public tenders on supplying milk to public servants.
- Advising various public contracting authorities on over EUR 10 mil preparations for public works, supplies, and services.
- Representing suppliers of all economic sizes as well as contracting authorities before the administrative authorities and national courts, challenging various grey areas of Greek public procurement laws (e.g. reliance on the capabilities of other economic entities, advanced digital signature of documents, abnormally low bids).
Currently, our team is working intensively on a self-initiated project for suggesting to the legislature methods to improve digital procurement process in Greece. The outcome of this project is intended to enhance the current digital system towards a more digital, expanded and simplified services and access to information in the public procurement field in the Greek market.
Mr. Ioannis Sarakinos heads our public procurement practice, holding a long-standing, significant and well-respected experience in this area. Since 2017, he has been appointed as a head legal advisor of the Dimosdata digital platform (www.dimosdata.gr), a digital platform offering comprehensive know-how to public employees. He is, also, a keynote speaker in numerous educational training seminars to Bidders and Contracting Authorities on all legal and administrative issues in relation to public tenders in Greece and the EU.