Modificarea contractului de achiziţie publică după finalizarea executării: de la pressetext la Strominator Elektro şi limitele flexibilităţii ulterioare atribuirii
Modification of Public Procurement Contracts after Completion of Performance: From pressetext to Strominator Elektro and the Limits of Post-Award Flexibility

Summary/Abstract: This article analyses the judgment of the CJEU in Strominator, within the broader context of the case law on the modification of public procurement contracts. Its central thesis is that Strominator should not be read as a mere ad hoc clarification of the phrase „a contract during its period of validity” in Article 72 of Directive 2014/24/EU, but rather as a systemic contribution to the dividing line between legitimate flexibility at the performance stage and the disguised award of a new contract. The article traces the evolution of the CJEU's case law on substantial modifications. While in pressetext the Court initiated a test of substantial modification, Finn Frogne clarified that not even settlements concluded in order to resolve a contractual dispute are immune from review under the public procurement rules. Strominator added a temporal dimension: Article 72 can no longer be invoked once the contractor's performance has been fully completed, final acceptance has taken place and the final invoice has been issued, even where the contracting authority has not yet paid the price. The article thus proposes the concept of "temporal exhaustion of the public contract" as an autonomous limit on post award modifications.

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