Official Journal of the European Union

C 303/8

(Case C-376/21) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Public procurement - Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 - Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 - Inapplicability to public contracts awarded by Member States and financed by resources from the European Structural and Investment Funds - Directive 2014/24/EU - Direct and unconditional reference to provisions of EU law in national legislation - Applicability to a contract whose estimated value is lower than the threshold set in the directive - Article 32(2)(a) - Option for a contracting authority to invite only one economic operator to participate in a negotiated procedure without prior publication after deeming a prior open procedure unsuccessful - Obligation to maintain the initial conditions of the contract without introducing substantial alterations)

(2022/C 303/10)

Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Zamestnik-ministar na regionalnoto razvitie i blagoustroystvoto i rakovoditel na Upravlyavashtia organ na Operativna programa ‘Regioni v rastezh’ 2014-2020

Defendant: Obshtina Razlog

Operative part of the judgment

1.Article 160(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 July 2018 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union, amending Regulations (EU) No 1296/2013, (EU) No 1301/2013, (EU) No 1303/2013, (EU) No 1304/2013, (EU) No 1309/2013, (EU) No 1316/2013, (EU) No 223/2014, (EU) No 283/2014, and Decision No 541/2014/EU and repealing Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, as well as Article 102(1) and (2) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002, as amended by Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2015/1929 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 October 2015, must be interpreted as not applying to procedures for the award of public contracts organised by contracting authorities of the Member States, even where those contracts are financed by resources from the European Structural and Investment Funds.

2.Article 32(2)(a) of Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC, as amended by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2170 of 24 November 2015, read in conjunction with Article 18(1) of that directive, as amended by Delegated Regulation 2015/2170, must be interpreted as meaning that a contracting authority may, in a negotiated procedure without prior publication, approach a single economic operator where that procedure reproduces, without substantial alteration, the initial conditions of the contract that were mentioned in a prior open procedure which was discontinued on the ground that the only tender submitted was unsuitable, even if the subject matter of the contract in question does not have special characteristics which objectively justify its performance being entrusted exclusively to that economic operator.

(1)

OJ C 391, 27.9.2021.