The EU is planning a reform of public procurement; Slovakia prepared a conference for this

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Bratislava / High Tatras – The European Union is preparing to reform public procurement (PP) rules. On this occasion, an international conference is taking place these days in the High Tatras in Slovakia, with the participation of heads of offices from the Visegrad Group (V4) countries, Albania and Ireland, as well as representatives of the European Commission (EC). The chairman of the Slovak Public Procurement Office (PPO), Peter Kubovič, pointed out that the process is just beginning, but everyone is calling for simplification of the rules, reports TASR.

“This causes problems for us as well, especially because we are a small state and central public procurement does not fully function at the regional local government level in practice. Therefore, it is difficult for small procurers to achieve these complex goals. We plan to sign a memorandum with the chairmen of the Czech, Polish and Hungarian offices next year, create working groups where we would coordinate more and look for common overlaps characteristic for the V4. We cannot compete with countries like France and Germany, where the problems are different,” explained Kubovič.

He pointed out that the current EU directives are from 2014. Last year, the European Court of Auditors issued a report highlighting that while public procurement is crucial to the implementation of the single market, competition in public procurement has decreased over the last decade.

In response to the auditors’ report, the EU Council adopted a document proposing the launch of a pan-European strategic action plan for public procurement. “So far, it is at the level of political goals, such as simplification, removal of administration, use of modern tools, which would be able to speed up the bureaucratic process. For example, in the conditions of the Slovak Republic, you wait for the end of a public procurement court case for up to four years, which is one electoral period for that procurer. That’s why everyone is calling for acceleration,” concluded Kubovič.

The head of the Czech Office for the Protection of Competition Petr Mlsna added that there is currently a discussion in the EU about whether to issue a regulation for public procurement or to stick to directives. “The form of regulation would negatively reflect on several problems that are already resolved in most states. Unification is not a good path and would lead to great uncertainty,” noted Mlsna. According to him, it is important to take into account what member states can adjust themselves, leaving them the freedom to set legal regulation that reflects their experiences, legal culture, and the state of competition in individual markets.

According to Kubovič, the current EU directives have proven to be too complex and administratively demanding, which hinders the effective management of procurement processes and the participation of some economic entities in it. Therefore, the EC has begun the process of a comprehensive evaluation of the PP directives with the aim of setting new rules. (December 12)

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