Government procurement
Public procurement is based on the idea that governments should direct their society while giving the private sector the freedom to decide the best practices to produce the desired goods and services.
[15] In order to provide public and merit goods, the government has to buy input factors from private companies, e.g. police cars, school buildings, uniforms etc.
These most notably cover military acquisitions, which account for large parts of government expenditure, some aspects of health care,[16] and low value procurement.
[17] The GPA and EU procurement law allow for exceptions where public tendering would violate a country's essential security interests.
The United Kingdom's Office of Fair Trading, as it then was, commissioned a review addressing the impact of public sector procurement on competition, which reported in 2004.
[19] An important role in this has the great size of financial turnover and the complexity of many procurement processes in which businesses interact very closely with politicians and civil servants.
Its role is to monitor the execution of all government contracts and it may impose sanctions, initiate lawsuits, and publish the names of fraudulent or delinquent businesses.
[70] Appeals from bidders regarding the contract award process are heard by a Standing Committee on the Amicable Settlement of Disputes (CRAL).
[78] During the period from 1949 to 1978, Chinese public bodies acquired the goods and services they required in accordance with administratively directed transactions, whereas since the economic reforms of 1978, "central planning has started to give way to market forces".
[84] On 28 September 2023, Ronald Saborío, Costa Rica's Ambassador to the WTO, submitted an application on the country's behalf to join the Government Procurement Agreement.
In 2022 the World Bank proposed a draft law on public procurement and contracts which is intended to address some of the recognised weaknesses in the country's procedures and regulations.
[88] The Government of the State of Eritrea received financing in 2020 from the African Development Bank to support a "Public Financial Management and Statistics Capacity Building Project".
Prime Minister Boyko Borisov described the extension as "absolutely necessary" in order to prevent persons from illegally entering the European Union member state.
[127] Article III of Decree 2016-247 of 3 March 2016 provides that the Direction des Achats de l’Etat (DAE: State Purchasing Directorate) has "exclusive competence in matters regarding the strategy for professionalisation of public procurement".
[132] The European Commission's profile for Greece in its study of administrative capacity in the EU had described the public procurement system in the country as "singularly complex, ... being dispersed among as many as 400 laws, regulations, and presidential decrees".
[143] In addition to the code, guidelines from the National Anti-Corruption Authority (Italian: Autorità Nazionale AntiCorruzione, abbreviated ANAC) and decrees from various ministries also apply to public procurement.
[145] Decree No 34 of the President of the Republic of 25 January 2000 introduced earlier rules establishing a qualification system for persons who carry out public works.
[147] In case C-3/88, Commission v Italian Republic, the European Court of Justice ruled that arrangements made by the Italian government to restrict contracts for the provision of services to develop data processing systems for Italian public authorities to companies "in which all or a majority of the shares [were] directly or indirectly in public or State ownership", and to include the supply of computing equipment within the services contract, the government had failed to comply with its obligations under Council Directive 77/62/EEC of 21 December 1976 coordinating procedures for the award of public supply contracts, and failed to comply with the principles of freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services in the EEC Treaty.
These laws transpose the EU procurement directives; one additional legal provision is that for supplier selection purposes, real estate tax debts are checked where tenderers are registered or permanently resident in Latvia.
Public procurement opportunities are advertised on the Latvian Elektronisko Iepirkumu Sistēma (EIS) website, as well as in the Official Journal of the European Union when above the threshold values.
This department is responsible for the regulatory framework, drafting relevant legislation and monitoring its implementation, and also for representing the Luxembourgish authorities in the field of public procurement.
[131]: 21 The region's government aims to promote the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the Basque Country through its Green Procurement and Contracting Program 2030.
[181] In 2012 the European Commission raised a concern regarding the United Kingdom's incomplete transposition of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 into law.
According to the website GlobalSecurity.org, "despite the CNMP's efforts, major public procurement contracts, notably those involving the state electric company EDH, are routinely awarded in a non-competitive fashion", providing significant opportunities for corruption.
[235][236] Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned on 21 March 2018 following allegations that public works contracts had been corruptly awarded to Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht.
[243] The public procurement system in Rwanda is governed by 6 fundamental principles namely (1) transparency, (2) competition,(3) economy, (4) efficiency, (5) fairness and (6) accountability.
[255] The Public Finance Management Act 1999 also refers to the duty of the Accounting Officer of a department to have and to maintain an appropriate procurement and supply system which is "fair, equitable, transparent, competitive and cost effective".
[260] The Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (Ukraine) is an executive authority in charge of coordination of procurement of goods, works and services for public funds.
[265] Conditional preferential treatment is afforded under Resolution 32 to corporate suppliers whose capital does not exceed AED 10 million and in which the UAE national shareholding is not less than 51%, and to facilities which are financed by SMEs-supporting funds and governed by federal or local law.
[278] Rules on "transparency, control and competition in the procedures for awarding public contracts of the Holy See and Vatican City State" were published on 19 May 2020 and amended on 16 January 2024.
