EWS deadline: 8 March 2012 (7 March for concessions)
Contributions of Regional Parliaments and other partners:
Introduction
On 20 December 2011, the European Commission has issued two proposals for directives (
COM (2011) 895 and
COM (2011) 896) aiming to replace
Directives 2004/17/EC and
2004/18/EC, which are the core of the EU public procurement system, as well as a proposal for a directive on concessions (
COM (2011) 897). As public purchasers, local and regional authorities are primarily concerned by EU public procurement legislation, even though actual international/cross border public procurement remains very limited. In many Member States, regional and local authorities are the largest public contracting authorities.
Therefore the current review carried out by the European Commission (EC) of the EU public procurement policy is of particular interest to local government in general and regions with legislative powers in particular, which may voice their concern with regards to subsidiarity within the
Early Warning System.
The Committee of the Regions, in accordance with its enhanced responsibility in terms of subsidiarity monitoring with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, is committed to provide assistance to regional parliaments in this process. It is developing a sub-section of its SMN website especially dedicated to regions with legislative powers, which will provide them with documentation and access to other information on selected files of special relevance for local and regional authorities. The Revision of EU public procurement legislation is the first file of this kind.
The
background note and information sources presented on this page are aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the potential impact of the draft directives in relation to the subsidiarity principle.
Background
Many stakeholders have voiced demands for a review of the EU public procurement system. The EC also sees public procurement as one of the market-based instruments that should be used to achieve the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy. Therefore, the revision of EU public procurement Directives is one of twelve key actions identified in the
Single Market Act.
Revision of EU public procurement legislation
This note was commissionned by the Committee of the Regions and written by t33, Srl and OIR. It does not represent the official views of the Committee. It highlights some aspects of the current and proposed legislation which are particularly relevant for local and regional authorities, with a focus on subsidiarity and proportionality.
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Green Paper was released in January this year in order to gather stakeholders' opinions as to shortcomings of the existing EU public procurement system and views as to how to achieve the most efficient use of public funds. The consultation ran until 18 April 2011. In parallel with the Green Paper, the EC undertook a comprehensive evaluation of the impact and cost-effectiveness of EU public
procurement legislation. Along with responses to the Green Paper, this ex-post evaluation was to provide an important input for the preparation of the proposals for review of the Directives. The Single Market Act was foreseeing the publication of the EC proposals before the end of 2011, paving the way for adoption of the revised legislation before the end of 2012.
Many local and regional authorities, as well as their main European associations have contributed to the Green Paper. The Committee of the Regions has adopted an opinion on
11 May 2011.
Local and regional authorities are benefiting from the European internal market and its rules: more competition can lead to lower costs and better quality; more transparency helps to fight corruption and fraud; cross-border cooperation creates new opportunities. However, the EU public procurement directives are also seen as increasing administrative burdens, both on public authorities and their private contractors, particularly small and medium-sized companies, making the process of awarding contracts unnecessarily slower and more costly. Some provisions of the directives themselves are not necessarily clear and lead to legal uncertainties. Complex rules are also not always compatible with attempts to develop socially responsible and innovative procurement.
The question of whether and how far the EU should act in this area of shared competences between the EU and the Member States is therefore relevant. Regional parliaments are likely to be consulted by their national counterparts on this topic in the context of the
EWS, in order to assess whether the two proposed directives comply with the subsidiarity principle. They will have a very short time (4 to 8 weeks at most) to perform a subsidiarity analysis of the proposed Directives.
Documentation and useful links
National Parliaments - IPEX
European Commission
European Parliament
Committee of the regions
- Opinion on Modernisation of eu public procurement policy: towards a more efficient european procurement market (CdR 70/2011)
- Opinion on Mobilising private and public investment for recovery and long-term structural change: developing public-private partnerships (CdR 21/2010)
- Opinion on Improving the effectiveness of review procedures concerning the award of public contracts (CdR 182/2006 fin)
- Opinion on Public-Private Partnerships and Community Law on Public Procurement and Concessions (CdR 41/2006 fin)
- Opinion on the Green Paper on public-private partnerships and Community law on public contracts and concessions (CdR 239/2004 fin)
- Subsidiarity and Proportionality Grid
Local Government associations
