Public Procurement Orientation Paper

Cities are responsible for providing public services to ensure a better quality of life for their citizens. There are various ways for cities to deliver these public services. They can decide to perform these services themselves, they can subsidise them, or they can provide the services by tendering out contracts. Once decided to provide public services by tendering out a contract, one enters the realm of this partnership: Public Procurement.

When cities tender out contracts, the procurement practice aims to spend public means efficiently and effectively in such a way that maximum added value is created for the objectives that are pursued in the tender. Public Procurement must comply with EU law. Objectives set out by the EU, such as an EU-wide level playing field, are to be applied. To create a level playing field for all actors across Europe, EU law sets out minimum harmonised Public Procurement rules1. These rules regulate the way public contracting authorities, and certain utility operators, tender out public contracts. This EU law is transposed into national legislation and applies to procurements whose monetary value exceeds a certain amount (“threshold amounts”). Cities are classified as public contracting authorities and need to comply with this law.