Public Sector and Administrative Matters

We advise companies, investors, and public contracting authorities on economically relevant administrative and regulatory issues — from the tendering process to approval and legal protection against administrative decisions.

Public Contracts

Above certain thresholds, European procurement law applies with its own legal protection system; below that, national rules with more limited options apply. This distinction determines whether a bypassed bidder can take legal action at all.

For bidders, three points are crucial. First, the objection: recognizable procurement errors must be promptly reported to the contracting authority; otherwise, legal protection is blocked. Second, the completeness of the offer — missing declarations lead to exclusion, and not every defect can be requested later. Third, the deadline after the prior information: there is only a short period between the notification of the intended award and the conclusion of the contract during which a review request can still have an effect.

Approvals

For investment projects, it is often not the economic viability that determines the timeline, but the approval process. Building permits, immission control permits, water law permits, and trade law permits each follow their own procedures, some with public participation and environmental assessments.

We structure such processes from the application stage: complete documents at the outset, early coordination with the authority, clear responsibilities on the applicant's side. The most common reason for delays is not rejection, but additional requests — and this can largely be avoided through preliminary work.

Legal Protection Against Authorities

Against a burdensome administrative act, the path through objection and action for annulment is open, and against the rejection of a permit, the action for obligation. Both are time-bound, and the deadline starts from the notification — not from the company's knowledge. A faulty legal remedy instruction extends it, while a lack of jurisdiction within the authority does not.

The suspensive effect is important: it does not always occur. In the case of immediately enforceable orders, legal protection must be sought in expedited proceedings; otherwise, the authority creates completed facts.

Subsidies and Funding

Funding is purpose-bound. Those who use it differently, do not comply with the binding period, or violate reporting obligations must expect revocation and recovery — with interest. Inaccurate information in the application adds the accusation of subsidy fraud, which can apply even in cases of negligence.

We review funding notices for their ancillary conditions, accompany usage evidence, and represent in recovery proceedings.

Regulated Markets

In energy, telecommunications, and transport, it is not the market alone that decides on prices and access, but a regulatory authority. Network access, fee approval, and connection obligations follow their own procedures, in which companies have rights as stakeholders — access to files, statements, legal remedies.

Anyone investing in a regulated market should examine the regulatory framework before making the investment decision, not afterward. A fee approval that is tighter than calculated fundamentally changes the economic viability of a project — and can only be corrected later in legal remedy proceedings.

Typical Configurations

The foreign bidder. Proof of suitability from Turkey — references, certificates, professional register entries — must be presented in a form accepted by the contracting authority. Translations and certifications take time and belong in the offer planning.

The bidding consortium. Several companies apply together. Here, it must be clarified in advance who provides which service, how liability is handled, and what happens if a partner drops out.

Exclusion due to misconduct. After serious professional misconduct, exclusion from procurement procedures is threatened. This can be averted through self-cleaning — clarification, damage compensation, organizational measures — which must be proven.

Privatization and Participation of the Public Sector

When a public entity sells a stake or a private investor enters a municipal company, two logics collide: corporate law and budgetary and municipal law. Resolutions of municipal bodies, approvals from the supervisory authority, and requirements for the earmarking of assets determine the process.

Additionally, there is state aid law: a sale below value or a capital contribution under conditions that a private investor would not have accepted can constitute an unlawful aid — with the risk of recovery years later. We structure such transactions so that they withstand this scrutiny and document the market conformity of the conditions.

Related Areas of Consultation

Administrative law questions touch on project contracts in infrastructure projects, economic criminal law in subsidies, and compliance consulting in exclusion reasons. We address them together because a decision in one area binds the others.