Brussels, 24/06/2011 (Agence Europe) - Reform of the legislation on public procurement is one of the 12 priority actions of the Single Market Act, which was adopted in April 2011. On Friday 24 June, the Commission published the results of a global assessment of the impact and effectiveness of European Union legislation on public procurement. It also published a summary of the main opinions voiced by some 620 people who took part in the consultation on the Green Paper on updating EU public procurement policy.
The evaluation showed that European directives on public procurement favoured the emergence of a culture of transparency and public procurement based on results throughout the Union; they have made it possible to bring in competition between bidders, make savings and improve the quality of the results of public procurement. The opening-up of these markets to competition has led to a reduction in costs of around 4%, or savings of around €20 billion, which has far outstripped the cost of the regulatory measures (which have been put at €5 billion). The Commission will take the information it gathered in its assessment and the contributions to the consultation as its basis in preparing its legislative proposals before the end of this year. The priorities of the legislative reform will be debated at a major conference on public procurement to take place in Brussels on 30 June. (L.C/transl.fl)