Public Procurement Comparative Guide

• other than those financed by transfers from the Treasury guarantee or direct budget transfers; and
• with an estimated cost and contract price not exceeding TRY 95.5 million.

• the Turkish Petroleum Corporation;
• the Pipelines and Petroleum Transportation Corporation;
• subsidiaries of these companies; and
• companies that they have established abroad.

An exception regarding defence-related purchases is included in Article 3(b) of the law. According to this provision, procedures and principles regarding defence procurement are regulated by various public institutions and organisations (eg, the Ministry of National Defence, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Intelligence Organisation and the Presidency of Defence Industries), and these regulations remain in force.

1.3 Which bilateral or multilateral instruments or treaties with effect in your jurisdiction (if any) have relevance for public procurement?

Türkiye has observer status in the World Trade Organization Public Procurement Agreement.

Türkiye has made significant progress on the first two of the three opening criteria regarding public procurement within the scope of the EU accession process, and preparations are ongoing for the third opening criterion: the harmonisation of Turkish public procurement law with EU law in terms of its scope and exceptions.

2 Scope of application

2.1 What kinds of entities fall within the scope of the public procurement rules in your jurisdiction? Do any exemptions apply?

• Procuring entities within the scope of the general budget and special budget;
• Provincial special administrations and municipalities and their affiliated revolving fund organisations, unions (excluding those operating as professional organisations and their parent organisations), and legal entities;
• Public economic enterprises consisting of public economic organisations and economic state establishments;
• Social security organisations;
• Funds;
• Legal entity organisations established by special laws or presidential decrees and assigned public duties (excluding professional organisations and foundation higher education institutions);
• Independent budget organisations;
• All kinds of organisations, institutions, unions, enterprises and companies in which those listed above directly or indirectly own more than half of their capital together or separately; and
• Construction tenders of banks or related companies where more than half of their capital is directly or indirectly owned by the government.

2.2 What kinds of contracts fall within the scope of the public procurement rules in your jurisdiction? Do any exemptions apply?

Goods, services and construction works financed from all kinds of resources available to entities within the scope of the Public Procurement Law must be procured in accordance with the law.

Many exemptions are set out in Article 3 of the Public Procurement Law and in other specific laws; while some of these are formulated for types of procurement, others are in force only for specific public institutions.

2.3 What financial thresholds must be met for specific contracts to fall within the scope of the public procurement rules in your jurisdiction? Do any exemptions apply?

There is no threshold value for procurement by entities that fall within the scope of the Public Procurement Law in order to remain within the scope of the law.

2.4 Do any rules apply in regard to contracts which fall below the relevant financial thresholds?

For procurements below certain monetary values, the Public Procurement Law provides procuring entities with the opportunity to expedite the procurement through:

• the direct procurement method; or
• a negotiated procedure without advertisement.

2.5 Do any special rules apply to certain types of agreements (eg, concession contracts, framework agreements)?

Framework agreements are governed by the Public Procurement Law. According to the relevant provisions, procuring entities can enter into framework agreements for the purchase of goods, services and construction works that they need, provided that they apply the open tender or restricted tender procedure. Framework agreements cannot be used in a way that prevents, restricts or distorts competition.

Concession contracts do not fall within the scope of the Public Procurement Law; as yet, no main law exists in this regard. Yet there are many separate laws and regulations governing different fields of Concession contracts in Türkiye.

2.6 Do any special rules apply where the supplier is a foreign entity?

Procuring entities may make arrangements that only domestic tenderers can participate in tenders with an estimated value below the threshold value (around €12 million for works and €500,000 for goods and services). However, it is forbidden to make such arrangements for tenders whose estimated value is above the threshold value. In other words, tenders with an estimated value above the threshold values must be open to foreign tenderers.

Although not mandatory, a price advantage of up to 15% can be provided in favour of domestic tenderers in service procurement and construction work tenders.

Although not mandatory, a price advantage of up to 15% can be provided in favour of tenderers offering domestic goods in goods procurement tenders. However, in tenders for goods included on the list announced by the Public Procurement Authority (which includes medium and high-tech industrial products defined by the Ministry of Science Industry and Technology), it is mandatory to provide:

• a price advantage of 15% in favour of tenderers offering domestic goods; and
• a price advantage of 15% in favour of tenderers offering domestic software products.

In order for joint ventures to be considered domestic tenderers, all partners must be domestic tenderers.

2.7 Do any anti-avoidance rules apply in your jurisdiction?

There are rules aimed at preventing the artificial division of contracts into various separate contracts to avoid the application of the Public Procurement Law.

3 Preliminary stages

3.1 What initial engagement with the market will a procuring entity typically undertake in advance of launching a tender procedure? What rules and requirements apply in this regard?

Before the tender of goods or services or construction works is announced, the procuring entity will conduct in-depth price research and determine the estimated value. In this respect, the following can be used without any order of priority:

• prices determined by public institutions and organisations according to the nature of the work;
• prices for the same or similar work carried out by the entities making the tender or other entities;
• prices determined by the relevant chambers; and
• prices determined by:
• • taking the arithmetic average of the price offers obtained within the scope of the price research to be carried out on the market regarding the work items or groups that constitute the subject matter of the tender; or
  • conducting inquiries among expert witnesses and appraisers.

3.2 How are invitations to participate in a tender made public in your jurisdiction?

Tender notices are published on the Electronic Public Procurement Platform established and operated by the Public Procurement Authority. In addition, depending on the importance and nature of the work, procuring entities may announce tenders through:

• international announcements;
• domestic newspapers or publications;
• information processing networks; or
• electronic communications (internet).

3.3 What criteria determine eligibility to participate in a tender? Do any exemptions apply?

The documents that may be requested for determining the qualification of tenderers are as follows:

• Economic and financial qualifications:
• • Documents obtained from banks regarding the financial status of the tenderer;
  • The tenderer's balance sheet or required sections of the balance sheet, which must be published in accordance with the relevant legislation, or equivalent documents if they do not exist; and
  • Documents indicating the tenderer's total turnover that corresponds to the volume of business or turnover related to the work subject to the tender.
• Professional and technical qualifications:
• • Evidence that the tenderer is registered with the relevant chamber as required by law and is legally authorised to submit a bid;
  • Evidence of work experience;
  • Evidence of the tenderer's production and/or manufacturing capacity, its research and development activities and the quality of its work;
  • Evidence of the tenderer's organisational structure;
  • Evidence of the training and professional qualifications of the tenderer's managerial staff and technical personnel;
  • Evidence of the tenderer's facilities, machinery, equipment and other equipment;
  • Evidence of the relevant technical personnel or technical organisations responsible for quality control; and
  • Certifications from quality control organisations accredited in accordance with international rules.
• Samples, catalogues and/or photographs of the goods to be tendered.

The specific information that will be used in the qualification assessment according to the nature of the work subject to the tender will be specified in the tender documents and in the announcement or invitation documents related to the tender or pre-qualification.

3.4 Can the number of potential participants in a tender be restricted in your jurisdiction?

Yes. In the restricted procedure, provided that this is specified in the pre-qualification announcement and document, a certain number of tenderers listed whose qualifications have been confirmed according to the specified criteria may be invited to submit a bid.

In this procedure, if the number of candidates that can be invited to the tender is less than five or the number of participants that submit its tender is less than three, the tender will be cancelled.

3.5 Do any special incentives apply to promote the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in tenders in your jurisdiction?

Except for the possibility to conduct tenders open to partial bids and framework agreement tenders, there are no special incentives to promote the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in tenders.

3.6 What rules and requirements apply in regard to the formulation of technical specifications used as part of a tender procedure?

In the technical specifications, arrangements can be made to ensure compliance with national and/or international technical standards. These specifications include technical features and definitions. However:

• a certain brand, model, patent, origin, source or product cannot be specified; and
• features and definitions of a certain brand or model cannot be specified.

In cases where there are no national and/or international technical standards or where it is not possible to determine technical features, a certain brand or model can be specified, provided that the phrase ‘or equivalent' is included.

3.7 Are prospective tenderers which have assisted in the preparation of the tender restricted from participating in the tender procedure? If they are, what requirements are there on procuring entities to manage this?

Contractors that provide consultancy services on the subject matter of the tender cannot participate in the tender. Similarly, contractors on the subject matter of the tender cannot participate in tenders for consultancy services for this work. These prohibitions also apply to:

• companies with which they have partnerships or management relations; and
• companies in which they own more than half of the capital.

In addition, those responsible for the implementation of the tender procedure and those providing consultancy services cannot:

• disclose information or documents that must remain confidential; or
• use such information or documents for their own benefit or that of third parties.

The sanctions specified in law will be applied to anyone that acts otherwise.

4 Governing principles

4.1 What key principles govern public procurement in your jurisdiction?

Procuring entities are responsible for ensuring:

• transparency;
• competition;
• equal treatment;
• reliability;
• confidentiality;
• public control;
• that needs are met under appropriate conditions and on time; and
• the efficient use of public resources in tenders.

Unless there is an acceptable natural connection between them, goods, services and construction works cannot be tendered together.

Procurement of goods or services and construction works cannot be divided into parts in order to remain below threshold values.

The open tender procedure and the restricted tender procedure are the basic procedures in tenders. Other tender procedures can be used in special cases specified in the Public Procurement Law.

No tender can be made for any work for which there is no budget.

4.2 What requirements and restrictions apply with regard to the impartiality and independence of the procuring entity, including conflicts of interest?

The following cannot participate in tenders in any way, directly or indirectly, or as subcontractors, on their own behalf or on behalf of others:

• persons authorised to conduct tenders in the procuring entity and persons assigned to the boards with such authority;
• persons assigned to prepare, execute, finalise and approve all kinds of tender procedures related to the work subject to tender in the procuring entity;
• spouses and blood relatives up to the third degree and in-laws up to the second degree, adopted children and adoptive children of the persons specified above;
• partners and companies of those specified above (except for joint stock companies in which these persons are not on the board of directors or do not own more than 10% of the capital); and
• organisations such as foundations, associations, unions, funds and companies that are affiliated with the procuring entities conducting the tender or established for whatever purpose related to the procuring entities, and companies that are partners of these organisations.

5 Procedures

5.1 What different types of tender procedures are available in your jurisdiction? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

There are three tender procedures:

• open tender;
• restricted tender; and
• negotiated tender.

There is also the direct award of contracts specified in the tender.

No procedure has specific advantages over the others. The open tender procedure and restricted tender procedure are the basic procedures; whereas other tender procedures can be used in special cases specified in the Public Procurement Law.

5.2 What rules and requirements apply with regard to the direct award of contracts, without a tender procedure?

The main functions that can be fulfilled by conducting price research in the market without an obligation to apply the tender procedure are as follows:

• determining that the need can only be met by a single real or legal person;
• determining that only a single real or legal person has a special right regarding the need;
• purchasing goods and services that are necessary to ensure compatibility and standardisation with existing goods, equipment, technology or services from the first real or legal person from which the purchase is made;
• purchasing accommodation, travel and food within the scope of the needs of procuring entities not exceeding approximately €20,000;
• purchasing or renting immovable property suitable for the needs of the procuring entities;
• purchasing:
• • medicines, vaccines, serums, anti-serums, blood and blood products that are not economical to stock or to be used in emergencies;
  • medical consumables such as orthotics and prostheses that can be determined according to the patient during the application and are specific to the patient; and
  • testing and examination consumables;
• purchasing services from Turkish or foreign lawyers or law partnerships to represent and defend the procuring entities within the scope of the Public Procurement Law in cases related to disputes that are planned to be resolved through international arbitration; and
• purchasing services from Turkish or foreign lawyers and service purchases to ensure the registration of intellectual and industrial property rights with national and international organisations.

5.3 What rules and requirements apply to the choice of tender procedure? What other factors play a role in this regard?

The open tender procedure can be used any time without any specific rules or conditions. The restricted tender procedure can be used only for:

• works for which the open tender procedure cannot be used because they require specialist expertise and/or advanced technology; and
• construction work tenders whose approximate cost exceeds half of the threshold value (around €6 million).

The negotiated procedure can be used only in the following cases:

• No bids are received as a result of an open tender or restricted tender procedure.
• The procuring entity determines that an urgent tender is needed:
• • due to sudden and unexpected events such as natural disasters, epidemics or risk of loss of life or property;
  • because specialist construction technique are involved;
  • to ensure the safety of lives or the property of structures; or
  • due to the occurrence of events unforeseen by the procuring entity.
• The tender must be made urgently due to the emergence of special situations related to defence and security.
• The tender is of a nature that requires a research and development process and is not subject to mass production.
• The technical and financial characteristics of the goods, services or construction works that are subject to the tender cannot be determined with the necessary clarity due to their unique nature and complexity.
• Manufactured goods, materials or services with a value of up to approximately €60,000 are sought by the procuring entity.

5.4 How do the different types of tender procedures typically unfold? What are the typical timeframes for each?

The time taken from announcement of the tender to signing of the contract depends on the type and nature of the contract. If there is no complaint from the tenderers, the standard open tender procedure is as follows:

• announcement of the tender;
• submission of tenders (~25 days);
• evaluation of tenders, including an investigation of abnormally low tenders (~15 to 45 days);
• announcement of the tender outcome (10 days from the standstill period); and
• invitation to sign the contract and conclusion of the procedure (~10 days).

5.5 What rules and requirements apply with regard to contract award criteria?

The contract is awarded to the tenderer that submits the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT). The MEAT will be determined based solely on price or by also taking into account non-price elements such as:

• operating and maintenance costs;
• cost effectiveness;
• efficiency;
• quality; and
• technical value.

In tenders where the MEAT is determined by taking into account non-price elements, the monetary values or relative weights of these elements are specified in the tender document.

5.6 On what grounds will tenderers be excluded from a tender procedure?

Tenderers in the following situations are excluded from participation:

• those that are bankrupt, in liquidation, whose affairs are being conducted by the court or who are in a similar situation according to the law of their own country;
• those that have been declared bankrupt, been given a compulsory liquidation decision, are under court administration due to their debts or are in a similar situation according to the law of their own country;
• those that have definite social security premium debts according to Turkish law or the law of their own country;
• those that have definite tax debts according to Turkish law or the law of their own country;
• those that have been convicted by a court due to their professional activities in the five years prior to the tender date;
• those that have been proven to have engaged in activities contrary to business ethics in the five years prior to the tender date;
• those that have been banned from professional activity by the chamber with which they are registered;
• those that participate in the tender despite it being stated that they cannot participate; and
• those that are found to have engaged in prohibited acts or behaviours specified in the law.

Some of the documents specified above can be submitted as a commitment by the tenderers in their letter of tenders, the winning tenderer submits those documents before the contract is signed.

5.7 Are tenderers permitted to negotiate with the procuring entity as part of the tender procedure? If so, what rules and requirements apply in this regard?

Throughout the negotiated tender procedure, in cases where an announcement is not made (Articles 21(b), (c) and (f) of the Public Procurement Law), at least three tenderers are invited and asked to submit their qualification documents and price offers together. In tenders made according to Articles 21(a), (d) and (e), tenderers whose qualifications are determined according to the evaluation criteria specified in the tender document initially submit their first offers – which do not include price – on issues such as the technical details and implementation methods of the work that is subject to the tender. The tender committee then meets with each tenderer to discuss the methods and solutions that will most appropriately meet the needs of the procuring entity. Upon clarification of the conditions as a result of the technical negotiations, tenderers that can meet these conditions are asked to submit their offers, including their price offers, based on the technical specifications, as revised and clarified.

The negotiated tender procedure concludes on receipt of the final written price offers not to exceed the initial price offers from the tenderers, which form the basis of the tender decision.

5.8 What rules and requirements apply to the evaluation of tenders? What factors other than price play a role in this regard?

Essential factors other than price with regard to the evaluation of tenders include:

• operating and maintenance costs;
• cost effectiveness;
• efficiency;
• quality; and
• technical value.

It is not mandatory to specify only quantitative elements – qualitative determinations can also be made within this scope. In this context, non-price elements may include parameters aimed at:

• ensuring that the work that is subject to tender is carried out in accordance with the expected quality;
• determining the tenderer's capacity in terms of the amount of works undertaken to the public; or
• ensuring the compatibility of the tenderer's offer with the approximate cost structure in terms of the components constituting the work that is subject to tender.

5.9 Do any special rules or requirements apply with regard to abnormally low bids?

A detailed and complicated set of rules defines and evaluates abnormally low tenders. The tender commission evaluates excessively low bids by considering written explanations on issues such as:

• the economic nature of the manufacturing process, the services provided or the construction method;
• the selected technical solutions and the advantageous conditions that the tenderer will exploit in the supply of goods and services or the performance of the construction work; and
• the originality of the goods, services or construction work offered.

Following this evaluation, the bids of tenderers whose explanations are deemed insufficient or that do not provide a written explanation will be rejected.

5.10 How is the winning tenderer selected and what is the process for awarding the contract?

The bids of tenderers whose documents are complete and whose bid letters and provisional guarantees accord with the procedure are evaluated in detail. At this stage, it is examined whether:

• the tenderers comply with the qualification criteria that will determine their capacity to perform the work that is subject to the tender; and
• the bids comply with the conditions specified in the tender document.

Next, the tender commission evaluates the submitted bids and identifies those which are abnormally low compared to:

• other bids; or
• the estimated value determined by the procuring entity.

Before rejecting these bids, the commission requests details of the components that it determines to be important in the bid from the tenderers in writing within the specified period.

As a result of these evaluations, the tender is awarded to the tenderer that submits the MEAT.

The MEAT is determined:

• based solely on price; or
• by also taking into account non-price elements, such as:
• • operating and maintenance costs;
  • cost effectiveness;
  • efficiency;
  • quality; and
  • technical value.

In tenders where a price advantage is specified in the tender document in favour of domestic tenderers, the MEAT is determined by applying this price advantage and the tender is concluded.

5.11 What is the process for notifying unsuccessful tenderers of the outcome of the tender procedure?

The tender result is notified to all tenderers. In the notifications sent to unsuccessful tenderers, the reason why their bids were found inappropriate is also specified. Once all tenderers have been notified, the contract cannot be signed within the standstill period, which is:

• five days in tenders conducted in accordance with Articles 21(b) and (c); and
• 10 days in other cases.

5.12 Is joint procurement possible? If so, in what circumstances is it typically used and what rules and requirements apply in this regard?

Yes. A single tender may be conducted by applying for the procurement of goods and services and for maintenance and repair works to meet the common needs of more than one procuring entity.

For works within the scope of joint procurement, the procuring entities will assign one entity among themselves to carry out other tender procedures on behalf of these procuring entities, except for:

• the collection of the performance guarantee; and
• the signing of the contract.

A separate contract is signed between each procuring entity that is a party to the protocol and the winning tenderer.

5.13 What rules and requirements apply in regard to a procuring entity's record keeping during a tender procedure?

The tender authorities of procuring entities and chairpersons and members of tender committees are responsible for everything from tender procedures to contract execution. These persons must keep records of all work and transactions during the tender process under the name of the tender transaction file. In addition, as tenders are carried out electronically via the Electronic Public Procurement Platform, it is possible to access this information electronically.

6 Modifications

6.1 What rules and requirements apply to modifications during the tender procedure – for example, to the contract specifications or conditions, to the timetable or to the members of a bidding consortium?

After the announcement, if material or technical errors or deficiencies that may affect the preparation of bids are detected by the procuring entity or notified in writing by the tenderers, changes may be made to the tender document. The addendum – which is a binding part of the tender document regarding these changes – is sent to all tender document recipients in a way that ensures that they are informed at least 10 days before the last bid submission date. If additional time is needed for the preparation of bids due to the changes made through the addendum, the tender date may be postponed for up to 20 days, once only. In the event of an addendum, tenderers that submitted their bids before this arrangement are given the opportunity to withdraw their bids and submit new ones.

In addition, tenderers may request a written explanation regarding the issues that need to be explained in the tender document up to 20 days before the last bid submission date. If this request is deemed appropriate by the procuring entity, the explanation to be made will be sent in writing to all tenderers that have received tender documents until this date, in a manner that will ensure that they are informed 10 days before the last bid submission date, without specifying the tenderer that requested the explanation.

6.2 Is the procuring entity permitted to negotiate with the successful tenderer after the contract has been awarded? If so, what rules and requirements apply in this regard?

Except for consultancy service procurement tenders, post-tender negotiations are prohibited during the public procurement process.

In consultancy service procurement tenders, the tenderer with the highest total score (technical and financial scores in total) is invited to negotiate on:

• the job description;
• the contract terms;
• personnel; and
• the financial offer.

However, the conditions set out in the tender document cannot be significantly revised at this meeting. If the conditions are clarified and an agreement is reached as a result of the meeting, the tender is awarded to that tenderer.

6.3 Are any contract modifications permitted post award? If so, what rules and requirements apply in this regard?

The contracts to be signed after a tender process cannot include provisions that are contrary to those included in the tender documents.

Except in the cases specified in the Law on Public Procurement Contracts:

• no changes can be made to the contract provisions; and
• no additional contracts can be issued.

No changes can be made to the principles and procedures regarding the cost adjustment included in the contracts once the contract has been signed.

After the contract has been signed, and provided that the contract price is not exceeded and the procuring entity and the contractor mutually agree, changes can be made to the contract provisions in relation to the following:

• the place of work or delivery;
• the duration of the work, provided that the work is done or delivered before the due date; and
• the payment terms in accordance with this period.

In addition, in construction work contracts, the administration is authorised to make necessary changes to technical documents such as drawings to ensure that the work is completed in accordance with the nature specified in the contract where it would be practically impossible to complete the work without making those changes.

6.4 Can the contract be transferred to a third party post award? If so, what rules and requirements apply in this regard?

The contract may be transferred to a third party only in compulsory cases with the written permission of the tender authority. However, the transferee must meet the participation and qualification requirements of the initial tender. In addition, except for transfers made due to name and status changes, no other contract can be transferred or taken over by the same contractor within three years of the date of transfer of a contract.

7 Review

7.1 Which national bodies are responsible for enforcing procurement laws and regulations?

The Public Procurement Authority (PPA) is responsible for the correct implementation of the principles, procedures and transactions specified in the Public Procurement Law.

7.2 On what grounds can a decision of a procuring entity be reviewed? Who has standing to submit an application for review?

Tenderers or potential tenderers that claim they have suffered a loss of rights or damage or are likely to suffer damage due to illegal transactions or actions during the tender process may submit a complaint to the procuring entity or an objection to the PPA, provided that they comply with the form and procedure rules specified in the Public Procurement Law.

Complaints and objections are administrative applications that must be exhausted before filing a lawsuit.

7.3 What is the limitation period for submitting an application for review?

A complaint must be submitted to the administration making the tender within five days in tenders conducted in accordance with Articles 21(b) and (c) of the Public Procurement Law (negotiated tender procedure), and within 10 days in other cases, of the date on which the relevant transaction or actions during the tender process were or should have been noticed.

Complaints regarding the announcement, pre-qualification or tender documents may be made up to three business days before the tender or the final application date at the latest.

The procuring entity will conduct an examination in response to the complaint application and will issue a reasoned decision within ten days. The decision is then notified to the complainant and other tenderers or potential tenderers within three days of the date of the decision.

If a decision is not issued within the specified period, the applicant may submit an objection to the PPA within 10 days of the end of the decision period. If the decision issued during this period is not found appropriate, the applicant or other tenderers or potential tenderers may submit an objection to the PPA within 10 days of notification of the decision issued by the procuring entity.

7.4 Does the submission of an application for review have a suspensive effect on the tender procedure?

Where a complaint is submitted to the procuring entity, the contract cannot be signed before the last notification date of the decision issued on the complaint. If an objection has been made to the PPA, the contract cannot be signed before the PPA has issued its final decision on the objection.

7.5 What is the typical timeframe for review proceedings?

Ten days for procuring entities and 20-30 days for the PPA.

7.6 What costs are typically incurred in review proceedings?

The cost of review proceedings before the PPA range between approximately €1,100 and €4,400. The cost of filing a lawsuit subsequently is much cheaper, at approximately €500 to €1,000).

7.7 What enforcement powers and remedies are available where a breach of the procurement rules is found?

On considering a complaint or objection, the procuring entity or PPA may decide as follows:

• If an illegality that prevents the continuation of the tender process and that cannot be remedied by corrective action is detected, the tender will be cancelled.
• If the procuring entity can correct the situation and there is no need to interrupt the tender process, corrective action will be ordered.
• The complaint or objection will be rejected if:
• • it does not comply with the rules on time, procedure or form;
  • a contract has already been signed in accordance with the tender procedure;
  • no illegality can be detected in relation to the complaint; or
  • the subject of the complaint or objection is not within the scope of the PPA's duties.

7.8 Can the review decision be appealed? If so, what is the process for doing so?

The final decisions of the PPA regarding complaints can be appealed in the Turkish courts. These cases are heard with priority under the expedited trial procedure.

The first-instance court usually issues its decision within one to one and a half months of receiving the petition and defence petition.

The Council of State – the court of appeal – usually issues its final decision within two to three months of receiving the petition and defence petition.

8 Privatisations and public-private partnerships

8.1 Do any special rules apply with regard to privatisations in your jurisdiction?

The Law on Privatisation Practices took effect in 1994 and remains in force under the supervision and control of the Privatisation Administration of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance. This law regulates the privatisation of relevant assets with the aim of:

• increasing economic efficiency;
• reducing public expenditure; and
• generating income for the public.

8.2 Do any special rules apply with regard to public-private partnerships in your jurisdiction?

There are many separate laws and regulations, but no framework law governing public-private partnerships (PPPs) in Türkiye. In realising public investments and services through PPPs, models such as the following have been implemented:

• concessions;
• build-operate-transfer;
• transfer of operating rights;
• build-operate; and
• build-lease-transfer.

There are many different laws and regulations in force with regard to these PPP models, such as:

• the Law on Construction, Renewal and Procurement of Services with the Public-Private Cooperation Model of the Ministry of Health; and
• the Law on Procurement of Some Investments and Services Within the Framework of the Build-Operate-Transfer Model.

Although the disorganisation, multiplicity and lack of a systematic structure of the legislation seem to be handicaps, large public investment projects have nonetheless recently been delivered through PPPs.

9 Environmental, social and governance

9.1 How are ESG factors influencing public procurement in your jurisdiction? What specific concerns and considerations should be borne in mind in this regard?

There are no specific ESG-related regulations in force in Türkiye. However, in the standard tender specifications, there are provisions stating that contractors must implement all occupational health and safety measures necessary in accordance with the occupational health and safety legislation during the execution of the work that is subject to the contract, with all expenses being borne by the contractor.

10 Trends and predictions

10.1 How would you describe the current public procurement landscape and prevailing trends in your jurisdiction? Are any new developments anticipated in the next 12 months, including any proposed legislative reforms?

Important steps have been taken recently to revise the Turkish tender system. In particular, the introduction of electronic tender applications has improved the regime and prevented tenderers from being excluded from tenders due to a failure to submit unimportant information or deficiencies in secondary documents. In addition, integration with the e-government system has:

• reduced bureaucracy and document density;
• reduced the costs of participating in tenders; and
• increased the participation of small and medium-sized companies in tenders.

These positive impacts should help to increase efficiency in the public sector and quality in the private sector.

11 Tips and traps

11.1 What are your top tips for participants in public procurement procedures in your jurisdiction and what potential sticking points would you highlight?

Given Türkiye's dense population, demand for infrastructure, the possibility of technology transfer and similar, the Turkish public procurement market looks promising for foreign tenderers.

It is important for foreign tenderers that wish to participate in public procurement tenders in Türkiye to:

• register with the Electronic Public Procurement Platform;
• submit error-free electronic bids;
• resort to possible administrative or judicial means during bid evaluation processes; and
• obtain professional support from individuals or organisations that specialise in this field, to ensure effective contract management.

11.2 What are your top tips for procurers in your jurisdiction and what potential sticking points would you highlight?

Project implementation should be developed taking into consideration issues such as the following:

• increasing the weighting of non-price elements in the tender results to enhance efficiency and functionality;
• ensuring that small and medium-sized enterprises receive a greater share from public procurement; and
• utilising public procurement as a means of promoting technological development.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.