Innovative Procurement in Poland in the Light of the Report on the Evaluation of Public Procurement Functioning after the Amendment of the Public Procurement Law of 2016

Research background: Public procurement for innovation has increasingly been the subject of EU policy makers. A lot of changes in the European directives and Polish law have been observed that facilitate the process required for the public procurement of innovation.

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is an attempt to study a functioning public procurement system as a sourcing mechanism for innovative products and services in Poland.

Research Methodology: Review of the existing legislation concerning public procurement especially the Public Procurement Law in Poland after its amendment of 2016 and analysis of the results of a survey conducted among contracting entities and contractors of public procurement.

Results: The empirical study suggests that there is a deficit of knowledge of both contracting entities and contractors, concerning awareness and application of legal provisions facilitating procuring innovative products. The existing scale of innovative solutions’ application by contracting entities is very low, resulting from a lack of needs or due to the business profile, which does not contribute to increasing the demand for innovative products.

Novelty: There is a lack of similar investigations in the Polish and European literature. It is worth stressing that public procurement viewed as a special case of innovation which is distinct from the procurement of a regular market. The empirical results are based on a study conducted in 2018 by the Public Procurement Office in Poland.