No 20 (March 2000/Mars 2000/März 2000)

The Commission is currently discussing with Member States a preliminary set of nine indicators to measure market trends and the impact of public procurement policy over time in fulfilment of its commitment in the Communication on public procurement (see SMN 12)⁽¹⁾. Public procurement is a key area of the Internal Market, both in terms of its economic importance, and as an instrument of direct economic influence for Member States' administrations. It is therefore vital for the functioning of the EU economy that public procurement markets are open to EU-wide competition. This will give taxpayers value for money, improve the quality of the public services they receive and permit the efficient allocation of resources. Public procurement markets can only be efficient if all the parties involved (purchasers, suppliers and public authorities) have good, relevant market information.

These indicators provide annual estimates of total public procurement, the amount covered by the public procurement Directives and the amount actually advertised in the Official Journal as well as the number of entities publishing notices, the number of notices published and the amount of cross procurement within the EU. Additional indicators will measure the quality of published notices and compare prices paid by the public sector for the same or similar goods and services across the EU. The value of these indicators as a measure of market openness can be seen from the initial estimates for the period 1993-1998.

Several Member States have already noticed the positive impact that the EU public procurement rules⁽²⁾ can have, especially by encouraging greater competition through open tendering procedures. Denmark estimates that their local administrations can make savings of up to 14.5% by use of open tendering procedures, while the United Kingdom aims to save over e 1.5 billion, over the next three years, by adopting best practice for all its procurement activities.

These indicators show that while total public procurement has declined slightly between 1993 and 1998 as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product, it is still over 14% of GDP (over e 1000 billion in 1998 equivalent to more than half of Germany's GDP), for the EU as a whole.

The number and the total value of tenders advertised according to the rules has doubled over the same period. The number of public administrations and public utilities advertising their tenders in the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC) had grown fivefold over the same period. In 1998 over 13,000 bodies published together more than 73,000 such advertisements, worth an estimated total of e 137 billion. This is clearly the result of the Commission's effort to enforce and monitor the proper implementation and application of Community law.

Despite this progress, it is clear from these indicators that not all the tenders, which should be advertised, are yet being published and that many public contracts are still not being treated with the degree of openness and non-discrimination that the Single Market requires. Given the marked increase in transparency, for example, it is remarkable that the value of cross border procurement as a proportion of all public procurement, at around 10%, has not changed significantly between 1994 and 1998, remaining below that for the economy as a whole.

These indicators have contributed to the analysis of public procurement in the Commission's second annual report on the functioning of Community product and capital markets (see tables). They will continue to provide a consistent measure of the impact of public procurement policy over time.

La Commission discute actuellement avec les Etats membres d'une série préliminaire de neuf indicateurs permettant de mesurer les tendances et l'impact de la politique des marchés publics.
Ces derniers représentent un domaine clé du Marché intérieur, tant par leur importance économique qu'en qualité d'instrument permettant aux administrations des Etats membres d'exercer une influence économique directe.
Les achats de fournitures, de services et de travaux par le secteur public jouent un rôle important dans l'économie de l'Union (ils sont estimés à environ 14% du PIB soit plus de 1000 milliards d'euros en 1998, ce qui équivaut à plus de la moitié du PIB de l'Allemagne). Il est donc capital que les marchés publics soient ouverts à la concurrence dans l'ensemble de l'Union. Pour la première fois, ces indicateurs ont contribué à l'analyse publiée dans le deuxième Rapport sur le fonctionnement des marchés de produits de capitaux (voir Dossier spécial), dont sont extraits les quatre tableaux suivants.

Die Europäische Kommission diskutiert gegenwärtig mit den Mitgliedstaaten 9 Indikatoren, mit denen Markttrends und Auswirkungen des öffentlichen Beschaffungswesens im Zeitverlauf gemessen werden sollen. Diese bilden ein wichtiges Feld des Binnenmarktes sowohl im Hinblick auf seine ökonomische Bedeutung als auch als Instrument, mit dem die Verwaltungen der Mitgliedstaaten direkt wirtschaftlich Einfluß nehmen können. Die Liefer-, Dienstleistungs- und Bauaufträge des Staates haben einen großen Anteil an der EU-Wirtschaft (1998 schätzungsweise ca. 14% des BSP bzw. über 1000 Mrd. Euro, d.h. mehr als 50% des BSP Deutschlands). Es ist daher lebenswichtig, daß die öffentlichen Beschaffungsmärkte dem EU-weiten Wettbewerb offenstehen. Erstmalig wurden diese Indikatoren zur Analyse des öffentlichen Beschaffungswesens im Rahmen des zweiten Jahresberichts der Kommission über die Funktionsweise der gemeinschaftlichen Güter- und Kapitalmärkte herange-zogen (siehe Spezial-Dossier), aus dem die abgebildeten Tabellen entnommen sind.

(2) Directives 92/50, 93/36, 93/37 and 93/38 co-ordinate procurement procedures for public authorities and Utilities.

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