Distortions of Competition by Contracting Authorities — Bringing Some of the Pieces Together

This paper stresses that public procurement regulation and practice can result in distortions of competition and offers stylised economic analysis of the ways in which they can unfold. Against that backdrop, the paper provides updated analysis of the distortions of competition that can derive from the exercise of administrative discretion by public buyers and their treatment under EU competition and public procurement law. The paper concentrates, in particular, on a proposal to boost the role of the principle of competition of Article 18(1)II of Directive 2014/24/EU as a tool to promote pro-competitive public procurement regulation and practice