RISK MANAGEMENT IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PROCESS. PARTICULARITIES AND SOLUTIONS FOR OPTIMIZING PUBLIC PROCUREMENT IN ROMANIA IN THE CONTEXT OF EMERGENCY CAUSED BY THE COVID-19 CRISIS

Public procurement involves adequate risk management, specific to the procurement portfolio established at the level of the organization. In order to achieve the proposed objectives, in accordance with the regulated framework established at the level of public institutions from Romania, decisions made at the level of contracting authorities must be based on risk management tools and mechanisms. These tools and mechanisms are defined on the basis of analyses of public procurement processes, carried out in compliance with the legal framework applicable at both European and national level. The new context created at the level of the contracting authorities in Romania, with the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, forced the management factors to adopt emergency decisions, to manage new risks and to implement rapid changes in public procurement processes, in the context of high uncertainty. This paper aims at analyzing the way decisions are made at the level of contracting authorities in Romania, in order to identify specific risk management mechanisms, based on the assessment and anticipation of risks related to public procurement organized in an matter of emergency.