The EU Commission concluded that the rules for enforcement is a success and that a change is not needed. The conclusion was based on a questionnaire, with particular emphasize on deferred period and the grounds of confidentiality. Some solid support tools are still needed.
The European Commission conducted a survey regarding the practice of the enforcement rules for regulations of public procurement. Anbud365 has discussed the results from the survey report (read the full article in Norwegian here).
Based on the report, the European Commission concluded that the enforcement directive has contributed to the promotion of justice, openness, transparency and efficiency in the procurement process in the EU countries. It is, according to a statement from the European Commission, important to increase confidence in public administration.
50.000 appeal decisions
Additionally, it has been documented by the directives that the suppliers actually use the content as a foundation for challenging the contracting authorities for deviations from rules governing public procurement.
The directive introduced a so-called minimum standards to ensure compliance with the legislation. The European Commission especially emphasizes the deferring period to have a minimum of 10 days from awarding to signing contract.
This results in suppliers not feeling properly treated, may appeal before the client makes the contract irreversible by signing it. The European Commission will also highlight grounds of confidentiality.
Support tools needed
The aim of the enforcement directive aim has been reached and the Commission has, therefore, no other plans than to maintain it. The evaluation has shown that there is a need for a set of solid support tools:
- Promotion of cooperation and exchange of "best practices", and a network of appeal bodies should be established. The network believes the European Commission can also help to further strengthen national enforcement arrangements.
- Establishing a scoreboard to promote the collection of data in a structured manner and thus achieve more transparency and openness in the work of enforcement bodies. The first edition should be ready 2018 based on indicators developed in cooperation between the EU countries.
- Prepare guiding material to facilitate the practical implementation of the Directive in the respective national legal system.
- Initiate special enforcement measures to use when current problems can not be solved through cooperation.
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This article first appeared at Anbud 365, Norway's leading online newspaper for public procurement. Published by Lennart Hovland 2. February 2017. The full article can be found in Norwegian here.