General objective

The new public procurement rules adopted in 2014 provide for a toolbox enabling EU countries to make more efficient and strategic use of public procurement. More professional public procurement bodies will deliver more efficient public procurement markets, greater savings for public buyers, and provide more opportunities for European businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises.

They will be able to make the most of the tools at their disposal in order to deliver better value for money and to pursue overarching policy objectives via strategic public procurement. However, this will materialise only if public buyers are put in a position to procure in accordance with the highest standards of professionalism and are provided with the tools to deliver professional results.

Goals of the workshops

The objective of the workshops is to raise awareness on the need to deliver professional results in the field of public procurement, to exchange and discuss existing good practices in EU countries and to propose guidance on how to develop performance in procurement across the EU.

The workshops will welcome presentations from administrations and stakeholders who have developed good practices. This will be followed by working sessions aiming to determine the main desired features of the various tools for professionalisation - such as guidance and templates, training, education, career management, efficiency tools, helpdesks and exchange platforms.