Ever thought about submitting a bid in a procurement procedure organized by one of the European institutions? Here are a few things you need to know!
Not only national contracting authorities (think of the central government but also municipalities or other public entities) have to apply public procurement rules. Unsurprisingly, the European institutions have to do so as well. Not on the basis of the familiar procurement Directives 2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU (’Directives’), but on the basis of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046. The latter is also called the ‘Financial Regulation’.
This leaves the question whether there are a lot of differences between European award procedures organized by contracting authorities of the member states and award procedures organized by the European institutions.
I believe that, at least fundamentally, they are quite similar. The Financial Regulation frequently refers to the Directives. Paragraph 96 of the Financial Regulation explicitly provides that:
“Procurement rules and principles applicable to public contracts awarded by Union institutions on their own account should be based on the rules set out in Directive 2014/23/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive 2014/24/EU”
Furthermore, one of the most important and recurring judgments of the European Court of Justice (at least) in Dutch procurement cases, the Succhi di Frutta case, is based on a predecessor of the current Financial Regulation. In this judgment, the European Court of Justice ruled on the application of the principle of transparency in procurement cases. Practice has shown that this judgment is applied without distinction in European award procedures in members states and in award procedures by the European institutions.
It does not matter which ‘public’ contracting authority organizes an award procedure, either a municipality or the European Commission, both have to apply the principle of transparency in the same way. This means that they have to describe the subject-matter of the award procedure, but also the procedure itself in a clear, precise and unequivocal manner so that all reasonably informed tenderers can understand the procurement documents and interpret them in the same way. Also, this means that the contracting authority should stick to their ‘own’ rules. In other words, they are not allowed to deviate from their own procedure unless they explicitly provided for that possibility.
So now you know one of the most important things before submitting a bid in an award procedure organized by one of the European institutions. Next time I will discuss a significant difference between the Directives and the Financial Regulation so stay tuned!
Ever thought about submitting a bid in a procurement procedure organized by one of the European institutions? Here are a few things you need to know!
Not only national contracting authorities (think of the central government but also municipalities or other public entities) have to apply public procurement rules. Unsurprisingly, the European institutions have to do so as well. Not on the basis of the familiar procurement Directives 2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU (’Directives’), but on the basis of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046. The latter is also called the ‘Financial Regulation’.
This leaves the question whether there are a lot of differences between European award procedures organized by contracting authorities of the member states and award procedures organized by the European institutions.
I believe that, at least fundamentally, they are quite similar. The Financial Regulation frequently refers to the Directives. Paragraph 96 of the Financial Regulation explicitly provides that:
“Procurement rules and principles applicable to public contracts awarded by Union institutions on their own account should be based on the rules set out in Directive 2014/23/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council and Directive 2014/24/EU”
Furthermore, one of the most important and recurring judgments of the European Court of Justice (at least) in Dutch procurement cases, the Succhi di Frutta case, is based on a predecessor of the current Financial Regulation. In this judgment, the European Court of Justice ruled on the application of the principle of transparency in procurement cases. Practice has shown that this judgment is applied without distinction in European award procedures in members states and in award procedures by the European institutions.
It does not matter which ‘public’ contracting authority organizes an award procedure, either a municipality or the European Commission, both have to apply the principle of transparency in the same way. This means that they have to describe the subject-matter of the award procedure, but also the procedure itself in a clear, precise and unequivocal manner so that all reasonably informed tenderers can understand the procurement documents and interpret them in the same way. Also, this means that the contracting authority should stick to their ‘own’ rules. In other words, they are not allowed to deviate from their own procedure unless they explicitly provided for that possibility.
So now you know one of the most important things before submitting a bid in an award procedure organized by one of the European institutions. Next time I will discuss a significant difference between the Directives and the Financial Regulation so stay tuned!