Closet protectionism in UK Government's balanced scorecard for large projects?
The UK Government published recently a "balanced scorecard" for works, infrastructure and capital investment contracts valued above £10 million. Here's a snapshot from the press release:
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Albert has already put the finger where it hurts: it appears to be designed as a protectionist tool or at the very least with protectionist consequences. I would add that this approach increases procurement complexity (and cost) for both contracting authorities and economic operators but as we are talking about large projects probably the expectation is that such cost will be diluted in the grand scheme of things.
Having been on the record for the last few years saying social considerations can be easily manipulated for protectionist purposes, I cannot be surprised by yet another protectionist Trojan Horse having been found out in the wild. At this rate we might as well call it a day and just give up on the idea of a single market for public procurement.
As Brexit nears I expect a reduced influence of EU law and the CJEUs effectiveness as a deterrent in terms of compliance with key tenets of EU Law in the UK - and not only in procurement. This is just the clearest example so far.