In Article 19 of the Law on the Evaluation of State-Owned Real Estate and Amendments to the Value Added Tax Law, published in the Official Gazette on 15.04.2022, a Temporary Article 6 has been added to the Public Procurement Contracts Law No. 4735 under the title "Additional price difference or termination of contracts."

The regulation introduced under Temporary Article 6 specifies in its first paragraph that for contracts concerning the procurement of goods, services, and construction works tendered in accordance with the Public Procurement Law No. 4734 before 01.04.2022, and for contracts that are being executed in Turkish lira and have not yet received acceptance/temporary acceptance as of the date this provision enters into force;

For parts executed after 01.01.2022:

• For contracts where the tender document includes a provision on calculating the price difference, it is stipulated that the amount calculated based on the contract may be proportionally increased,
• For contracts where the tender document does not include a provision on calculating the price difference, or where such a provision exists but only applies to certain inputs, it is regulated that a price difference can be provided for the parts that were not calculated.

For parts executed between 01.01.2022 and 31.03.2022:

• Regardless of whether the tender document includes a provision for calculating the price difference, for contracts tendered between 01.07.2021 and 31.03.2022, the index corresponding to the month of the tender date [the last offer submission date] will be used,
• For contracts tendered before 07.2021, the index corresponding to June 2021 will be accepted as the base index, and based on the contract price, an additional price difference may be provided upon the contractor’s request, in addition to the price difference calculated according to the contract.

The article also provides that for construction works tendered according to Law No. 4734 before 01.04.2022 and signed in Turkish lira, where temporary acceptance has not been granted as of the date this provision comes into force, an extension of time may be granted for the quantity of work that could not be completed between 01.01.2022 and 31.03.2022 according to the work program.

For contracts concerning the procurement of goods, services, and construction works tendered according to Law No. 4734 before 01.01.2022, where the execution percentage is up to 15% of the initial contract amount [including this percentage], the contractor may request termination and settlement, and it is regulated that no termination request can be made for contracts transferred under Temporary Article 5.

The article further specifies that in the case of termination of the contract, no restrictions or sanctions arising from the termination will apply to the contractor, and the contractor’s guarantee will be refunded. In this context, the contractor will not be entitled to make any financial claims against the administration for work performed up to the termination date, and any amounts collected under Article 53/j/1 of the Public Procurement Law No. 4734 will not be refunded.

It is also stipulated that the contractor must take the necessary precautions regarding personal and property safety as deemed appropriate by the administration, and stamp duty will not be collected from termination notices issued under this scope. Goods, services, and construction works subject to contracts terminated under this provision may be re-tendered by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, based on its approval.

The article also includes some provisions on additional price differences for contracts related to student transportation and lunch services.

• For student transportation and lunch services tendered under Law No. 4734 or signed according to Article 22 of the same Law before the entry into force of this provision,

Contracts signed for lunch services under Article 3/e of the Law will not be eligible for additional price differences for portions executed between 01.01.2022 and 30.06.2022 if the contract does not include a provision for price difference calculation, or if such a provision exists but only applies to certain inputs.

• The principles and procedures for calculating the additional price difference in these contracts will be determined by the Ministry of National Education, upon the opinion of the Public Procurement Authority.

The relevant temporary provision has entered into force on its publication date, and the President is authorized to determine the principles and procedures regarding the implementation of the provisions related to applications and approvals, price differences, additional price differences, time extensions, and contract terminations, including those mentioned in the above articles.