9. Public procurement policy

The regulation of the public procurement policy became priority in the internal market since the share of the public market in the Union is very high. In real term, public procurement represents a significant amount of the Member States’ GDP. Public procurement, or 16.3% of the Community GDP, is an important sector of the European economy. The regulation of public procurement at Community level could bring substantial savings, result efficiency as to the trade effect, competition effect and restructuring effect on the supply side.

The Treaties do not contain explicit provisions on public procurement. However the principles of the internal market should be applied, as to the free movement of goods, services, anti-discrimination clause, right of establishment. In order to regulate the public procurement markets, Community institutions have opted for directives, since their implementation takes into account existing national sensibilities and particularities in Member States’ legal system. The objective of the public procurement directives is to harmonize and coordinate the national procedures for the award of public contracts. The purpose of the public procurement legislation if to enhance market efficiency through transparency and improved market information by ensuring that conditions of competition are not distorted and the contacts are allocated to suppliers and contractors under the conditions which are most favourable for the contracting authority.

The directives are based on three fundamental principles: (1) Community-wide advertising of public contracts above certain threshold, (2) prohibition of technical specifications capable of discriminating against potential bidders; (3) and application of objective criteria of participation in tendering and award procedures.

Tenders for public contracts where the amounts exceed a certain threshold, which varies according to the type of contract, be published in the Official Journal S series, which can be consulted free of charge in the TED database

The European Commission has established an Information system for public contracts (E-procurement), the so called SIMAP database. SIMAP aims to promote the use of the new information technologies in the field of public procurement. It provides a general framework for regulations, legislation; international, European and national links; online forms for the contract notices to be published in the supplement to the Official Journal; common vocabulary; an online electronic notification service; a discussion forum; research in TED and other sites

The public procurement directives in force are the followings:

• Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts
• Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors
• Commission Green Paper of 23 September 2004 on defence procurement
• Council Directive 89/665/EEC of 21 December 1989 on the coordination of the laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the application of review procedures to the award of public supply and public works contracts
• Council Directive 92/13/EEC of 25 February 1992 coordinating the laws, Regulations and administrative provisions relating to the application of Community rules on the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications sectors .