On 20 May 2021, the European Commission (EC) published a report on the Implementation and Best Practices of National Procurement Policies in the EU Internal Market. The report reflects the contributions provided by the EU Member States (MS) in monitoring actions which took place during the entire year of 2017.

The report mentions that a quarter of the MS cited difficulties with purchasers formulating proper and meaningful Award criteria, including those involving strategic public procurement (green, socially responsible and innovative), and establishing a relevant link with the subject matter of the procurement. Clear patterns were also observed showing: preference of using lowest price as an award criterion (seen as simpler and more objective) with best price-quality ratio used in limited cases, due to fears of risks in compliance audits; no or little prior market research resulting in non-realistic or outdated specifications; use of shortest possible deadlines for submitting tenders or requests to participate, and short deadlines for contract execution; imposing too many selection criteria or not imposing any at all.

In terms of green public procurement (GPP) specifically, one of the main challenges cited is the difficulty to foster GPP practices due to the missing legal obligation for contracting authorities to use environmental criteria in tendering procedures. Many MS reported the absence of data on the use of GPP, and although many have included guidance on how to incorporate green criteria in procurement procedures, only some of them explain how to assess those criteria in the evaluation stages.

Read more on the latest GPP News in the July Edition of the GPP Newsalert.