PHARE SPP 2004 - Regulating Public Procurement Internal market Acquis: National Perspectives and European Experience

Strategy 

One of the areas, which are horizontal to the whole process of European Integration, is public procurement. The EU public procurement market is a fundamental part of the Internal Market and is governed by rules intended to remove barriers and open up new, non-discriminatory and competitive markets, which is one of the fundamental principles of the EU Integration. The principle of public procurement is to open up the choice of potential suppliers to the public sector and utilities resulting in reduced cost, while at the same time, opening up potential markets for companies. The rules aim to ensure the free movement of goods and services within the EU and that public sector purchasing decisions are based on value for money achieved through competition. The principles are applied through the advertising across the EU, treating all enquiries equally to avoid discrimination on the grounds of nationality or the origins of goods and services, encouraging the use of EC based technical standards as opposed to national ones, and using objective criteria in tendering and contract award procedures.

Goals

 A Public Procurement International Conference “ Regulating Public Procurement Internal Market acquis : National Perspectives and European Experience” has been organized by the Centre for European Programmes of the American University in Bulgaria in April 2005. The topics of the Conference have been directly related to the implementation and implications of Public Procurement acquis in Candidate and Acceding Countries. The public-private partnerships, the impact of public procurement on the SMEs and the business as a whole, the visibility, transparency and better control of the tender and contract award procedures, as well as the implications of Information Technologies in the public procurement procedures have been a subject for discussion and analysis. The Conference provided participants with the possibility to exchange information on the latest developments in the area of public procurement in their respective countries, to share best practices, opinions and know-how on the different aspects of the public procurement.

The participants were representatives from all PHARE countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia); representatives from several Member States of the European Union will be invited as well.
The participants from the PHARE countries and the EU Member States were representatives of the relevant governmental bodies and structures dealing with public procurement issues in these countries, as well as decision-makers, central, regional and local administration, business community, social and economic partners.

The aims of the Conference has been to provide possibility to:

§          discuss the best practices and lesson-drawings in PP legislation in Europe;
§          share information and know-how already achieved in the area of implementation of PP Internal Market acquis ;
§          discuss the methodology for PP analysis of the economic and social consequences including different options assessment and needed legislative action;
§          identify, and when possible quantify, the costs, as well as the benefits of the Public Procurement legislative package enforcement;
§          enhance networking and multiplying effect in this area.  

The main emphasis of the Conference has been on the implementation and enforcement of the public procurement internal market acqius , its better compliance with the EU legislations and development of capacity to administer the public procurement process.

For contacts:

Ms. Zhivka Nikolova

Deputy Director

Centre for European Programmes

American University in Bulgaria

Elieff Center for Education and Culture

Studentski Grad, Sofia 1700, Bulgaria

Tel.:+ 359.2.9607921

Fax: + 359.2.9616010

e-mail: zhnikolova@aubg.bg