The European Commission is undertaking a comprehensive review of the EU Procurement Directives.
In its recent Single Market Act communication, it confirmed that:
"After the currently ongoing assessment of European public procurement legislation, and based on wide-ranging consultation, the Commission will make legislative proposals in 2012 at the latest with a view to simplifying and updating the European rules to make the award of contracts more flexible and to enable public contracts to be put to better use in support of other policies."
The Commission published a Green Paper on the modernisation of public procurement legislation at the end of January 2011 for consultation. The Scottish Government formally responded to the Commission on 22 March 2011, highlighting issues of particular importance to Scotland. The United Kingdom response to the Green Paper is now available on the Cabinet Office website.
In December 2011, the Commission published proposals for revised Directives on public procurement and procurement in the utilities sector and a new directive on the award of concession contracts.
These proposals are currently being discussed in negotiations in Brussels and are also being considered by the European Parliament. They are expected to be adopted by the end of 2012, in which case there will be a requirement to transpose the adopted Directives into national legislation by June 2014. This will require new Scottish Procurement Regulations which will be introduced in full consultation with stakeholders.
The Commission has also brought forward proposals on the access of suppliers from “third countries” to the EU public procurement market (see separate page on this issue.)