Public procurement contracts represent a major share of any country’s GDP and public expenditure budget. For this reason monitoring the compliance and performance of public procurement systems is of the utmost importance. For the purposes of SIGMA Brief 27, monitoring of public procurement...

This Public Procurement Brief presents two new EU public procurement Directives (2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU) on procurement by public and utilities sectors. The Directives are part of a recently adopted EU legislative package reforming the EU public procurement rules. The Brief provides an...

The decision to exclude an economic operator from participation in a public procurement procedure is a serious one. The impact on the economic operator is potentially significant. The inappropriate exclusion of an economic operator can also adversely affect competition and have an impact on...

Public authorities are major consumers in Europe: they spend approximately 2 trillion euros annually. By using their purchasing power to choose goods and services with lower impacts on the environment, they can make an important contribution to sustainable consumption and production....

SIGMA Brief 29 gives a short overview of the issue of common errors in public procurement. For the purposes of the Brief, errors are understood as infringements of public procurement rules and principles, regardless of the stage of the procedure. The Brief analyses the types of errors and their...

SIGMA Brief 28 aims to give guidance to auditors dealing with public procurement processes. Based on audit experience, it examines the stages that are worth looking at and explains why. It highlights those aspects that are recommended to be considered in more detail. It also gives advice as to...

The EU Public Procurement Directives cover three main types of contract: works, supplies and services including design contests. Some contracts will often contain elements of one or more of the 3 types of contract. The Directives contain specific rules that are used to classify these mixed...

The basic presumption in public procurement is that contracts of a specified type and value will be awarded using an advertised, competitive procedure that is open, fair and transparent, ensuring equality of opportunity and treatment for all candidates and tenderers. There are only limited...

The term “utilities” is commonly used to describe the organisations which deliver services – such as the provision of water, electricity, gas or transport – to a community as a whole, typically through fixed networks. In some EU member states activities in the utilities sector are...

Defence procurement is the process through which authorities in the field of defence and security acquire various goods, services or works they need in order to perform their duties and missions. Defence procurement constitutes a noticeable segment of public procurement in the European Union....