The liberalisation of public procurement is likely to generate benefits both in terms of the efficiency of public procurement and commercial interests. That is why WTO members have worked on this issue on three fronts: the authorities are entering into contracts to ensure that the work can be carried out and that services can be provided. These contracts represent a trade volume of EUR 2,448 billion, which shows that European public procurement is an important driver of economic growth, job creation and innovation. The public procurement package adopted by Parliament and the Council in 2014 adds EUR 2.88 billion per year to eu`s GDP. In addition, EU public procurement directives have increased the total amount of premiums from less than 200 billion euros to around 525 billion euros. In order to remedy breaches of public procurement rules, the Remediation Directive (Directive 2007/66/EC) provides for an effective verification system comprising both the public procurement directives and the Concessions Directive, and introduces two important elements, including the `status quo period`. After the decision to award a contract, the status quo period allows bidders to review the decision and decide whether to initiate a review procedure. During this period of at least 10 days, the contracting authorities cannot sign the contract. The following WTO members are contracting parties to the 1994 agreement:[3] The opening of public procurement can be beneficial for many reasons: Please note that the CETA text is presented here for informational purposes. The text presented in this document is such that it comes at the end of the negotiations between Canada and the EU. It will be subject to a legal review, a process that will also allow formatting.
After the legal review and formatting, the full text becomes mandatory at the end of the ratification process, both by Canada and the EU. Tenders must correspond to different procedures that are applied on the basis of a system of thresholds. The guidelines also define methods for calculating the estimated value of each public contract and information on procedures to be followed. Under the `open procedure`, any interested economic operator can make an offer. In a „restricted procedure,“ only candidates who have been invited can submit an offer. Under the „competition with negotiation“ procedure, any economic operator may apply for participation, but only applicants who have been invited can make an initial offer after the evaluation of the information provided. Under the „competitive dialogue“ procedure, any economic operator may apply for participation, but only invited candidates can participate in the dialogue. It is used when the contracting powers are unable to define how to meet their needs or to assess the solution that the market can offer. The contract is awarded exclusively on the basis of the best value for money. In cases where an innovative solution is not yet available on the market, a new procedure, the „innovation partnership“, has been put in place. The adjudicator decides to set up an innovation partnership with one or more partners who conduct separate research and development activities in order to negotiate a new and innovative solution during the tendering process.
Finally, in certain cases and circumstances, contracting authorities may contract in a negotiated manner without publication. On 3 October 2017, the Commission published two papers: „The work of public procurement in Europe and for Europe“ (COM (2017) 0572) and „Investment assistance through a voluntary ex ante assessment of procurement-related aspects for major infrastructure projects“ (COM (2017) 0573). In order to further improve European public procurement as part of the Strategic Public Procurement Package, it has also published a recommendation entitled „Towards the Professionalisation of Public Procurement – Building an Architecture for the Professionalisation of Public Procurement“.