Willem Janssen, Erik Olsson

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 15 (2020), Issue 1, Page 2 - 12

Competition, free movement and procurement are interrelated concepts that have long influenced the discretionary power of public authorities in the European Union to provide services through cooperation with other authorities. This contribution delves into this important issue, which should regain new attention because of the Irgita case before the CJEU. This case has seemingly created a legal conundrum for public cooperation and framework agreements. The discussion in this contribution brings to light the broad implications of this judgement for these two types of cooperation, and poses the question if the influence of EU public procurement law has made it (nearly) impossible to cooperate accordingly in the future. Keywords: Public cooperation; Procurement; Free movement; Competition.

Laura Panadès-Estruch

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 15 (2020), Issue 1, Page 13 - 23

British Overseas Territories are the newcomers to public procurement. Competition has been placed at the forefront of their frameworks. But is it competition in practice or just in name? This article argues that competition is a legal principle that does not translate into practice, though performance varies across countries. Results are structured on the basis of a five variable index comprising publicity of relevant legal sources, accessibility of open tenders, publication of contract awards, local preferences and ethics in Government. This is the first scholarly work that looks at BOTs public procurement as a group, focusing on Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. Keywords: Competition; Caribbean; Small Jurisdictions; Ethics; Local Preferences; Publicity; Transparency.

Federica Maldari

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 15 (2020), Issue 1, Page 75 - 79

The case deals with the interpretation of Article 7(2) and (4) of Regulation (EC) 1370/2007 on public passenger transport services relating to the direct award of the public service contract, by paying attention to the opening of the transport services sector to competition. The request for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU concerning the interpretation of those provisions was part of the proceedings between the Italian Competition Authority and the Region of Sardinia on the direct award of the contract for the transport of passengers by rail to Trenitalia S.p.A. by that Region. The referring Court asked the Court of Justice whether those provisions must be interpreted as meaning that the competent authority which intends to award a contract directly must take the necessary steps to open the transport services sector to competition by publishing or communicating, to all interested economic operators, all the information necessary to allow them to submit a serious and reasonable offer, and by carrying out a comparative assessment of all bids. Keywords: Direct award procedure; Tender procedure; Public passenger transport services; Competition; Bids; Prior information notice; Comparative assessment; Obligation of motivation.

Slavica Joković

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 14 (2019), Issue 3, Page 174 - 179

This article examines relevant provisions of the public procurement legislation in Serbia that concerns competition, such as principle of ensuring competition and competitive public procurement procedures. Efficient implementation of this legislative framework is essential for enhancing competition in the public procurement market. Furthermore, the article gives a review of some measures introduced in fighting against anticompetitive practice. Finally, it analyses the role of competent institutions in Serbia in the area of public procurement and competition. Keywords: Competition; Public Procurement legislation; Public Procurement principles; Public Procurement procedures; Anticompetitive practice; Acquis communautaire.

Pascal Friton, Christopher Wolters

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 13 (2018), Issue 2, Page 119 - 128

Wojciech Hartung, Katarzyna Kuźma

European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review, Volume 13 (2018), Issue 3, Page 171 - 183

This article discusses the issue of in-house procurement under Polish regulations and how they are applied by local authorities. The authors focus on special conditions in national provisions additional to those provided for in Directive 2014/24/EU. The Polish legislator allows the award of public contracts in a negotiated procedure without publication (single source procurement) among other differences. Polish regulations provide for the performance of local authority tasks via local authority acts. The authors analyse the relationship between public procurement and competition law with regard to the position of local authorities as entities playing a key role in organising public services markets; in Poland, local authorities, including municipalities, have the status of ‘undertaking’ when organising the performance of public services. What has been observed on the market is the tendency for municipal companies to use the privilege created for them in in-house procurement regulations to encroach on a market that is not related to the tasks of their owner and compete with private operators. EU law sets some limits on in-house procurement but does not in itself guarantee uniform application of this modality, leaving a great deal of freedom to Member States. Keywords: Self-governance; In-house procurement; Competition principles; National regulations.