Yes, in certain cases of cancellation of the procedure, the contractor is entitled to demand that the contracting authority reimburse the justified costs of participation in the contract award procedure.

Cancellation of the procedure is one of the ways of concluding a contract award procedure. A procedure may be concluded by way of its cancellation in cases strictly defined under the Public Procurement Law (PPL). Article 255 PPL contains a catalogue of circumstances whose occurrence leads to mandatory cancellation of the procedure by the contracting authority. In turn, Article 256 PPL, Article 257 PPL and Article 258 PPL provide for situations in which cancellation of the procedure by the contracting authority is possible, but the contracting authority is not obliged to conclude the procedure in this manner. At the same time, the mere occurrence of the grounds for cancellation of the procedure does not result in its cancellation. In order for the procedure to be cancelled, it is indispensable for the contracting authority to make a declaration to that effect.

Correlated with the above is also the contracting authority’s obligation to notify the contractors who submitted bids (requests to participate in the procedure or were invited to negotiate) of the cancellation of the contract award procedure, stating the factual and legal justification. The contracting authority makes this information available without delay on the website of the procedure. 

The contracting authority has an additional obligation connected with the conclusion of the procedure as a result of its cancellation. Namely, if another procedure is initiated which concerns the same subject matter of the contract or covers the same subject matter of the contract, the contracting authority notifies without delay the contractors who applied for the award of the contract of this fact. The above notification therefore concerns those contractors to whom the contracting authority sent the notice of cancellation of the procedure. 

In connection with the cancellation of the procedure, in certain situations and under certain conditions the contractor is entitled to a claim for damages against the contracting authority. The claim itself arises at the moment the contract award procedure is cancelled. However, the scope of the claim has been limited to reimbursement of the justified costs of participation in the contract award procedure, including in particular the costs of preparing the bid.

The legislator includes among the contractors entitled to the above claim those contractors who submitted a bid not subject to rejection. In turn, the ground for cancellation of the procedure must be a reason attributable to the contracting authority. This category may include, for example, the circumstance where the procedure is affected by an irremovable defect preventing the conclusion of a contract that is not subject to invalidation.