The special administrative appeal in public sector contracts given by Law 34/2010, of August 5th,amending Law 30/2007 of October 30th, actually included in Law 3/2011, November 14th

Abstract

This paper analyzes the special administrative appeal in contracts in the regulation of contracts given by Law 34/2010, of August 5, amending Law 30/2007 of October 30, Public Sector Contracts, which had been are incorporated literally in the Consolidated Act on Public Sector Contracts, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 3/2011 of 14 November. This regulation transposes into our legal system Directive 2007/66/EC of 11 December, amending Directives 89/665/EEC and 92/13/EEC with regard to improving the effectiveness of review procedures concerning the award of public contracts. The study analyzes the objective and subjective issues and procedural aspects of this new regulation, with particular attention to the implementation of special administrative appeal to Local Authorities. In these Administrations, in order to put in operation this administrative appeal, it is necessary the existence of specific Administrative Courts related to contractual issues, that is, a specific court of appeals created by the Regional Governments (“Comunidades Autónomas” in Spain): while the Regional Governments do not institute these courts, the decision of the special appeal in the Local Authorities by the same contracting authority, it becomes a mere administrative appeal, equivalent to the “replacement” appeal, but with the penalty that their decisions will usually not be enforceable until they are firm (not appeal).