Brussels, 16/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Monday, the European Commission adopted a Communication aimed at clarifying the range of possibilities offered by the Community legal framework to integrate social aspects into public procurement procedures. This "interpretative Communication" of EC law comprises guidelines to take account of these aspects and "make clear to public authorities the full scope for designing social policy into their tendering activities", Anna Diamantopoulou, Commissioner for Social Affairs, explained. The Commissioner for the Internal Market, Fritz Bolkestein considered that this Communication "will be a useful tool to help public authorities to apply social considerations to their purchasing, whilst at the same time ensuring value for money for taxpayers and equal access for all Community suppliers". (You may recall the public procurement represents over a thousand billion euro a year throughout the EU, or 14% of GDP).
The Belgian Presidency would like to integrate this Communication on the social aspects of public procurement in the debate on the adoption of the "general" directive on tendering for public procurement in the EU and in a sectoral directive for water, energy and transport, as well as on the Communication on public procurement and the environment (see EUROPE of 1 & 2 October, p.13).
A press release stipulates that this Communication: 1) refers to public procurement covered by the EC directives regarding public procurement, as well as those not covered by these directives but that are nevertheless subject to the rules of the treaty; 2) explains how social concerns may be taken into account at each stage while guaranteeing a rational use of public money and equal access to public procurement for all EC companies. For example, the press release explains, technical specifications with a social connotation can be used which serve to characterise a product or service, and, when selecting tenderers to submit a bid, certain social considerations may also be taken into account. In addition, Contracting authorities can apply an additional condition relating to the campaign against unemployment, provided that this condition is in line with all the fundamental principles of Community law, and that the authorities have to consider two or more economically equivalent bids. It is mainly during the execution of the contract that public procurement can be used by contracting authorities as a means of encouraging the pursuit of social objectives: thus, they can require the successful tenderer to comply with contractual clauses (like measures in favour of certain categories of people, positive measures in the field of employment and measures aimed at promoting equal opportunities) relating to the manner in which the contract is to be performed. (the Communication may be consulted on the Commission's Internet site: http: //simap.eu.int/).