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European Union requirements

  • Last modified date:
    24 October 2008

The EU Procurement Rules apply to public authorities which include, amongst others, Government departments, local authorities and NHS Authorities and Trusts and certain utility companies operating in the Energy, Water, Transport and Telecoms Sectors. Their purpose is to open up the public procurement market and to ensure the free movement of goods and services within the EU. In most cases they require competition. They go with the grain of the Government's policy that procurement decisions should be based on value for money through competition. The rules set out detailed procedures for the award of contracts whose value equals or exceeds specific thresholds.

EU Procedures

All member states are required to incorporate the Directives into national law. In the UK this has been achieved by means of the following statutory instruments:

  • The Public Works Contracts Regulations SI 1991/2680.
  • The Public Services Contracts Regulations SI 1993/3228.
  • The Public Supply Contracts Regulations SI 1995/210.
  • The Utilities Contracts Regulations SI 1996/2911.

The Directives require purchasers to follow detailed procedures for all purchases above the financial threshold levels specified by each directive. The financial thresholds are revised biennially, and were last set on 1 January 2004. Those that usually affect the Department of Health are as follows:

Supplies Directive £99,695 or ¬154,014

Services Directive* £99,695 or ¬154,014

Works Directive £3,834,411 or ¬5,923,624

*For Research and Development contracts a threshold of £129,462 (¬200,000) applies.

In the Department of Health, anyone undertaking a procurement exercise under the EU Directives must:

  • Give all suppliers within the EU an equal opportunity to express an interest in tendering for the business by placing a Contract Notice in the Official Journal of the European Union (the "OJEU Notice" - i.e. advertisement).
  • Invite tenders in accordance with one of the prescribed procedures: Open, Restricted, Negotiated, Accelerated restricted, Accelerated negotiated. The Department's preferred procedure is the Restricted procedure, the others should only be used in exceptional circumstances after approval has been sought from the Procurement Unit. Each procedure imposes minimum timescales covering every tender/procurement activity, which must be met to ensure that the Department is not subject to legal action under the Remedies Directive. Early planning is essential.
  • Ensure specifications comply with regulations covering standards. In essence, the requirement must be specified so that it does not discriminate against suppliers from member states.
  • Specify in the tender notice the technical and financial basis by which potential suppliers will be appraised. All applicants must be treated fairly and objectively.
  •  Follow laid down criteria for the award of contracts.
  • Publish the result of the contract award by placing a notice in the OJEU, and debrief unsuccessful contractors at their request. The Directives detail the information to be published and provided during the debriefing process
  • Provide annual returns covering specified statistical information to the Commission via the UK Government.

Failure to comply with these rules can result in the Department facing a challenge by an unsuccessful tenderer who can refer the matter to the High Courts. The Court cannot set aside a contract, which has already been awarded, but it can award damages. The plaintiff does not have to prove that they would have won the contract if the correct procedures had been followed, only that the purchaser did not comply with the rules.

Advertising the Requirement - "OJEU Notices"

All public sector requirements are advertised by notices published in the Supplement to the Official Journal of the European Union ("OJEU" for short). OJEU is published daily by the Official Publications Office in Luxembourg, and available in each member state's language.

A contract award notice should be sent to OJEU no later than 48 days after a contract has been awarded. A contract award notice may need to be published even when there was no contract notice; PPAU will advise on the circumstances. Suppliers looking for sub contract work may wish to check the award notices to discover which companies have recently been awarded major public sector contracts.

Notices are published:

  • Tenders pages and library on the DH website (DH tenders only)
  • Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) - Europe's daily list of public sector contract advertisements.  THE ADVERTISEMENTS ARE ONLY AVAILABLE TO VIEW ON THE DAY THAT THEY ARE PUBLISHED.
  • Business Information Publications (BiP) - a private company offering various services including details of UK public sector contract advertisements which are available to view for several weeks from their initial publication date. THE ADVERTISEMENT VIEWING SERVICE IS BY SUBSCRIPTION TO THE COMPANY.

Operational Objectives in Respect of Sustainable Development Practices

The Department strives to achieve best environmental practice and is committed to the efficient use of energy and resources. The Department aims to continually improve its environmental performance by:

  • conserving energy, water, paper, wood and other resources - particularly those which are scarce or non renewable - while still providing a safe and comfortable working environment;
  • reducing waste through re-use and recycling and by using refurbished and recycled products and materials where such alternatives are available;
  • monitoring discharges and emissions to air, land and water to assess what action is necessary to reduce/minimise pollution or the risk of pollution (including ozone-depleting substances);
  • encouraging manufacturers, suppliers and contractors through tighter specifications to develop environmentally preferable goods and services at competitive prices;
  • working with contractors to improve the Department's environmental performance where this is relevant to the contract and to the achievement of value for money;
  • meeting all relevant current and foreseen statutory regulations and official codes of practice and specifying contractors do the same when working on Departmental premises;
  • developing and maintaining, where significant hazards exist and in accordance with any existing Codes of Practice, emergency procedures for effectively dealing with them and limiting the risk to health and the environment;
  • ensuring, where practicable, that buildings occupied and managed by the Department will work towards the principles of ISO 14001.
  • building a commitment in staff and contractors to work in an environmentally responsible manner and encouraging them to play a full part in developing new ideas and initiatives;
  • communicating openly with staff about environmental policies and best practice and co-operating with others in the public and private sectors at home and abroad to develop and promote environmentally sound practices.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) takes the lead in devising public policy in this area.

Additional links

Procurement publications

Procurement publications that have been recently added to this area.

European Union Tendering Timetable

Table showing minimum number of days needed for EU procurement exercises for restricted and open procedures.

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