Recommendations to the European Commission on Public Procurement Legislation

The European Commission is working on a revision of public procurement legislation. Public procurement in the European Union represents 14-19% of European GDP and is therefore a significant part of the European economy, but its regulation has become too complex. Commissioned by the European Commission, Willem Janssen, associate professor at Utrecht University and endowed professor of public procurement law at the University of Groningen, has conducted research into how to improve this legal framework.

“Public procurement is no longer governed solely by the Public Procurement Directives. It is now shaped by more than 60 other EU laws, ranging from energy and circular economy to social policy. Yet each of these rules was written in isolation, creating a fragmented system. My External Coherence Study for the European Commission shows that this fragmentation can limit effectiveness, creates uncertainty, and sometimes even creates legal conflicts between instruments. To address this, public procurement law must be evaluated and reformed as one system, not one directive or regulation at a time. I suggest this could be done in an omnibus approach or in the new proposals for the public procurement directive."

Recommendations 

This is the most important and first recommendation from his study “The coherence of public procurement legislation in the European Union. A study into the external coherence between the public procurement directives and other legislative instruments regulating public procurement”. Janssen advises, among other things:

  • Clearly depict the nature of the Public Procurement Directives and their relationship with the other legislative instruments

  • Streamline the scope of the Public Procurement Directives and the other legislative instruments

  • Strengthen awareness and professionalisation to support the implementation and enforcement of public procurement legislation

Downloads and documents

Willem Janssen submitted these and other recommendations at the request of the European Commission. The reports can be viewed and downloaded here:
Executive summary
Volledige rapport

Teamwork en medewerking

Janssen received research support provided by student assistants Angelos Papathanasiou and Jonas Veldhoen. The study also has benefitted greatly first and foremost from the input from, and cooperation with, Roberto Caranta, the author of the Internal Coherence report; from the input from the EU Commission, the national representatives of the European Commission Expert Group on Public Procurement (EXPP), the national representatives in the Network of First Instance Review Bodies, the Members of the European Procurement Law Group, the Members of the Utrecht University Centre for Public Procurement and more specifically, Ton Van Den Brink, Abby Semple, Nathan Meershoek, Ezgi Uysal, Tom Huisjes and Lea Diestelmeier.