Procurement Directives Revision
A couple of weeks ago a little birdie told me the Commission wanted to get the ball rolling on the revision of the procurement legal framework within the first 100 days of its term. Well, looks like they want to hit the ground running with the evaluation of the current
Public Procurement
The Letta report on the single market (Much more than a market) released yesterday contains some ideas for public procurement, namely achieving higher integration for the public procurement market while realising strategic goals. These are explored in detail in a reasonably sized section called 'A more European and more
Public Procurement
Now that we have a (redacted) copy of the contract to look at, it is possible to share some thoughts about it, with the proviso the applicable law to it is the Belgian law and the same goes for the jurisdiction. Now, I did not qualify in Belgium but at
Public Procurement
I have been considering writing or not about the current situation with the COVID-19 vaccines in the EU. First, the AstraZeneca row with the Commission and Member States and second, the difficulties in scaling up production. As for the first, now is not the moment to discuss the topic and
Legal
I have been thinking about Apple's dominant position in the (iOS) smartphone market for quite a few years, mostly in the context of how slow EU competition law enforcement is in regards with technology sectors. The last week or so, first with the EU Commission's investigation
Public Procurement
The Commission published yesterday a new white paper on levelling playing field as regards foreign subsidies. This white paper covers a number of areas, including public procurement. Most of the comments on public procurement are not exactly new, such as the issues surrounding third country access to public procurement. In
Public Procurement
Despite the UK being party to the EU Joint Procurement Agreement on medical countermeasures, it seems that it had sat out the recent round of procedures launched earlier in the month to deal with the shortage of medical equipment arising from the COVID-19 crisis. Despite calls to join in, it
Public Procurement
The European Commission launched yesterday a new European strategy for data, aiming to make the EU into a "leading role model for a society empowered by data." The whole strategy is worth looking into, but I will be focusing my comments in the public procurement angle. The first
Links
1. Plastic: Universities and Councils in Wales cut back on plastic cups and Wrap Cymru will put out single-use plastics procurement guidance. 2. Four rocket companies compete for US Air Force funding 3. European Commission issues guidance on the participation of third country bidders in the EU procurement market 4.
Public Procurement
1. Vietnam to open public procurement market for foreign investors. 2. China in the Balkans: Motivations behind growing influence. 3. Italy’s National Anti-Corruption Authority is the first winner of the European Commission’s Digital Transformation award. Brownie points for them using Tor to protect whistleblowers. 4. Engaging with the
Public Procurement
Continuing the short game of procurement tennis with Albert Sanchez-Graells on the Commission's Communication Making Public Procurement work in and for Europe COM(2017) 572 today I will be talking about the Commission's 6 strategic priorities for public procurement policy. These are: * Ensuring wider uptake of
EU Commission
1. European Commission publishes country specific recommendations (with comments on procurement for at least a few Member States). 2. Lisbon wants to create positive discriminations in public procurement for undertakings not employing people on short term contracts (Portuguese only). Illegal in my view. 3. Spain will end non-transparent award procedures