EU moves towards reform of public procurement

Public procurement accounts for roughly 17% of the EU’s GDP. In times of tight budgets and economic difficulties in many Member States, public procurement policy must ensure the most efficient use of public funds, with a view to supporting growth and job creation. This would require flexible and user-friendly tools that make transparent and competitive contract awards as easy as possible for European public authorities and their suppliers.

With these objectives in mind, the European Commission launched a consultation on the 27 January 2011. This open debate with interested parties will focus on the modernisation of the rules, tools and methods for public procurement to deliver better on these goals. The deadline for responses to the Green Paper was 18 April 2011.

• Primary Source

United Kingdom: Cabinet Office: The United Kingdom response to the European Commission Green paper on the modernisation of EU public procurement policy (COM(2011)15 final http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/0707UKGPpbResponsefinal%20(2).pdf

European Commission: Press Release: IP/11/88: European Commission consults on the modernisation of the European Public Procurement Market http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/88&format=PDF&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

European Commission: DG Internal Market and Services: Public Procurement http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/publicprocurement/index_en.htm

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