A significant reform was made in the Turkish public procurement system and Public Procurement Law No. 4734 and Public Procurement Contacts Law No. 4735 were put into effect on January 1, 2003. However, approximately 20 amendments have been made in the Public Procurement Law up to the present, the number of exceptions has been doubled, and the direct procurement method has started to be preferred more often to avoid the procurement procedures. The Public Procurement Authority does not have an effectively functioning structure which prevents negative intervention in the procurement system, and determines the real changes improving the system. It is a significant mistake that the Public Procurement Board, which is an administrative body, is assigned to examine complaints. Furthermore, despite the explicit provision of the Public Procurement Law on the appointments, no importance has been attached to the fact that the member of the Board should have the qualifications such as knowledge, experience, and expertise regarding the legislation and implementations of procurement since the foundation of the Board. The value of public procurements realized in Turkey reached 51 billion US dolar in 2007, 65 billion US dollar in 2008, 43 billion US dollar in 2009 and 46 billion US dollar in 2010. These figures clearly show why we need to have a procurement system which will ensure that the procurements are conducted in accordance with generally accepted international standards; that competition, transparency, equal treatment are guaranteed and savings and efficiency are increased and that any infraction of rules is prevented during procurement process. In Turkey, which has a great potential in terms of public procurement, a public procurement authority and a board within the system of public procurement should crucially be competent and effective while improving the procurement system, settling problems which occur during implementation and finding righteous solutions to such problems, eliminating uncertainties, developing fundamental principles, making similar decisions with regard to the cases of the same or similar character and making administrative precedents which might be taken as reference by everyone. Within this framework, the Public Procurement Authority should be restructured to function effectively for improving the procurement system, preventing negative interventions towards the procurement system and determining the real changes towards improving the system, and it is crucial to assign the task of assessing the complaints to Complaints Assessment Committee that will be composed of persons with proven knowledge, experience and expertise about the procurement legislation and applications instead of Public Procurement Board which is an administrative organ. Besides, the Board of Legislation Preparation, Follow-up and Development composed of the representatives of public institutions, relevant private sector professional organizations and non-governmental organizations should be constituted to prepare Public Procurement Legislation, to determine necessary changes in the legislation in parallel with the emerging and changing requirements by following the legislation constantly and to execute required draft studies. On the other hand, regulations for the procurement procedures performed by institutions operating in energy, water, transportation and postal services should be made in accordance with European Union (EU) acquis. A new public procurement law should be prepared and implemented for the correction of deficiencies in public procurement legislation and operative disruptions and harmonization with the EU acquis. Furthermore, regulations regarding Public-Private-Partnership models occupying a world-wide usage area in terms of the tender procedures to be implemented in privileges and infrastructure investments should be performed in line with EU and contemporary norms.
