European Parliament adopts texts for public procurement directives

The European Parliament has adopted the public procurement directives and the new directive on the award of concessions.

The next stage is for the directives to be approved by the European Council, which is scheduled to consider the adopted texts on 20 and 21 February.

Commissioner Michel Barnier said: “The new rules which have been adopted today by the European Parliament have three main objectives: simplification, flexibility and legal certainty.

“Through this reform, public authorities can optimise their use of public procurement which, with nearly 19% of European GDP, is a key driver of our economy. Thus, the simplification of procedures, greater flexibility and their adaptation to better serve other public sector policies or the possibility of the best quality-price ratio (‘value for money’) will make public procurement more efficient and more strategic, respecting the principles of transparency and competition to the benefit of both public purchasers and economic operators.”

Commissioner Barnier said that the rules on concessions would create a common framework for a major tool of public management in Europe, “thus contributing to the conditions set for stimulating investment in major public services of the future”.

The Commissioner added: “The balance achieved reflects the spirit of cooperation between the institutions which prevailed throughout the discussions. I am convinced that the Council will approve in the coming weeks the adoption of these three Directives, in order to allow their entry into force in March.”

Deborah Ramshaw of law firm Bond Dickinson said that adoption by the Council was likely to be a formality, given that it had provisionally agreed the revised texts in June last year.

She added that the directives would enter into force 20 days after publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

“Member states will then have two years in which to transpose the new rules,” Ramshaw said. “The Cabinet Office has previously indicated that it plans to introduce new regulations in England, Wales and Northern Ireland quickly, with a view to enabling authorities to enjoy the benefits of the new provisions as soon as possible.”

Rachel Whitaker, a specialist in procurement law at Browne Jacobson, said: "Key issues which will no doubt prove topical in the UK will be the introduction of national rules for light touch procurements e.g. those for health and social services over the de minimis threshold and the new rules on evaluation criteria."