Legal Problems of Quality Aspect in Public Procurement Contracts. Summary of the Doctoral Thesis
Authors:   ,   Rīga Stradiņš University, Avena Līga 
Published: October 2023

Public entities, derived public persons, etc., which meet the characteristics of the status of a purchasing authority specified in the regulations, must comply with the requirements of the regulatory acts regulating public procurement in the use of resources. Innovative approaches in order to ensure compliance with the principles of sustainability, ecology, etc. are also appearing periodically in the industry. However, in-depth research and analysis of the quality aspect, which is the basis both for the determination and evaluation of the criteria and for the conformity or non-conformity of the contract performance with the public interest, has not been researched at all, especially in the field of construction the issue of quality assurance is critically important. So far, the potential of intersectoral institutional resource sharing has been underestimated and its practical and legal aspects for ensuring efficiency and quality assurance of public administration in all its dimensions through public procurement have not been analysed. The aforementioned justifies the relevance of this research. The aim of the Thesis is to reveal all the essential dimensions of quality and the legal issues of their implementation in public procurement contracts, in order to provide practical and science-based recommendations for improving quality assurance in public procurement. In order to achieve the aim and to limit the topic, in-depth attention is paid to the field of construction, because it encompasses both the supply of goods and the provision of services, making it possible to identify all the dimensions of quality that are essential in public procurement of both goods and services. In the study, quality is analysed in a multidisciplinary section, revealing quality, both as an order requirement and as an element of contract performance, the goal of unified public procurement, translating the binding legal norms both with the methods of interpretation of various legal norms, and evaluating them through the prism of economics through theories. The tasks of the Thesis: 1) To research and analyse the historical development and nature of public procurement as a legal institution; 2) To find the definition of the concept of quality through a multidisciplinary approach, determining all dimensions of quality that are relevant to society as an end user; 3) To study the concept of quality in construction, to analyse the legal issues of quality and possible legal institutes for quality assurance; 4) To study the legal aspects of damages related to non-compliance with quality in construction contracts. As part of the Doctoral Thesis, an empirical study was carried out using qualitative research methods (content analysis). The research methodology included a conceptual study using a literature review, including dialectical research, analysis of normative, case law, doctrinal, theoretical and scientific sources, interpretation in the context of historical and current regulations, evaluation of the prevailing consensus, legal and technical synthesis. Content analysis was used for public-private partnership, public procurement, quality criteria, public administration and other terms, with an emphasis on logical content analysis. The Thesis consists of an introduction, 5 chapters, summary, annotations, list of references and appendices. Monographic literature, scientific articles, sociological studies have been widely used in the creation of the Doctoral Thesis. A total of 323 sources have been consulted for the Thesis, including regulatory acts, practice materials, court rulings, etc. The Doctoral Thesis uses the works of theorists L. Abbott (1955), J. Bramanis (2013), E. G. Carayannis, T. D. Barth, D. F. Campbell (2012), B. A. Carrol (1979–1999), P. B. Crosby (1979), J. M. Juran (1974–1995), K. Torgāns, F. Ulbrich (2006), and other scientists.