The European Commission has developed a new initiative related to public procurement services in the EU, with the aim of improving their efficiency, while taking into account sustainability issues and encouraging digitization. In the context of an effort to stimulate the economy and removing barriers to investments, this corresponds to a concern of ensuring that taxpayer money is spent as efficiently as possible. The priority areas for improvement are defined as: “greater uptake of innovative, green and social criteria in awarding public contracts; professionalization of public buyers; improving access by SMEs to procurement markets in the EU and by EU companies in third countries; increasing transparency, integrity and quality of procurement data; digitization of procurement processes; and more cooperation among public buyers across the EU.” To address the complexity of rules that apply to large-scale infrastructure procurement projects, the Commission will now offer help services to answer specific questions. The Commission also issues a recommendation to push forward the professionalization of public buyers. Finally, it initiates a consultation process open to stakeholders “on how to stimulate innovation through the procurement of goods and services”.

Resource:http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-3543_en.htm

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