New Public Procurement Directives Adopted

On the 15 January 2014 the European Parliament adopted the following three new public procurement Directives. 

1. New Directive on Public Procurement replacing existing Directive 2004/18;
2. New Directive on Public Procurement by entities operating in the utilities sectors, replacing existing Directive 2004/17 and;
3. New Directive on the award of Concession Contracts which previously fell outside the existing public procurement rules.

The Directives were subsequently adopted by the Council of the European Union on the 11 February 2014. They will enter into force 20 working days after their publication in the Official Journal and Member States will then have 2 years to implement them.

The new Directives seek to simplify the current public procurement procedures. To this end, they contain measures to make procurement easier and administratively less burdensome and to create flexibility for public authorities with a strong emphasis on electronic procurement. The new rules seek to ensure greater inclusion of common societal goals in the procurement process as well as providing better access to the market for SMEs.