Contracts and tenders in the accession countries: Public procurement across the new Member States of the European Union

Abstract:

The paper examines the public and utility procurement procedures in the new Member States. It deals with the purchasing of works, supplies and services by public bodies, including central government, local authorities, health services and public and privatised utilities. The EU public procurement rules aim to provide the greatest possible transparency in public procurement across the region eliminating discrimination on grounds of nationality and assisting free movement of good and services. All contracts, with few exceptions, over certain thresholds, to be awarded by public bodies must be advertised in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU). Standard forms must be used in completion of the advertisements legislated through Directive 2001/78/EC and enforced from May 2002. Any advertisement for the same contract published in other sources cannot contain greater specifications than the one in the OJEU. Contracting entities requiring technical standards to be met must wherever possible specify European standards rather than national standards to preclude discrimination towards companies from the same country as the awarding authority. They use standard codes to describe what product is required to alleviate differing language terminology. With the accession of 10 countries to the EU from 1 May 2004, these countries also fall under the EU procurement rules. The publications has three main priorities: to give an overview of EU procurement rules that are implemented in accession countries; to explain current EU financing instruments to the accession countries and how tenders for these can be accessed; and to provide a short general idea on public procurement in each country.