European review of procurement

Public Procurement: Quo vadis?

The Academy of European Law’s Annual Conference on European Public Procurement Law cast a glance at the latest developments in the field.

Keynote speaker Savvas Papasavvas, Judge at the General Court of the European Union, addressed European public procurement rules from the Court’s perspective. He pointed out that due to the number and complexity of cases the average duration a public procurement case at the Court was 33 months. He emphasized the Court’s concern with public procurement and its attempt to handle cases in the most efficient way.

The current law and future challenges in e-procurement, which will also be addressed by the Commission in a green paper in the coming weeks, was highlighted by Michael Varney, Deputy Director of the Institute of European Public Law at the University of Hull.

Hinting at the benefits of public procurement, Mr. Varney said that e-procurement offered the potential to integrate the whole procurement process – from initial notices to electronic payments – electronically. E-procurement not only offers the potential to access a wider range of bidders throughout the EU, he said, but it also reduces transaction and research costs.

Furthermore, said Mr Varney, the benefit of time savings should not be underestimated.

The challenge for wider implementation of e-procurement, however, will be the use of standardized non-discriminatory and interoperable technology.