Public procurement and the lack of cross-border activity
26.5.2011
Question for written answer E-005473/2011
to the Commission
Rule 117
Bendt Bendtsen (PPE)
Very few companies take part in invitations to tender across national borders in the EU. According to a Danish study[1], only 13% of Danish local and regional authorities have, on rare occasions, signed contracts with foreign companies or suppliers from another EU Member State within the last five years. 75% of all Danish local and regional authorities have not received a single concrete bid from a supplier from another Member State in the last five years.
1. Does the Commission have data from other Member States that give an indication of total cross-border activity in Europe and, in particular, the situation with respect to SMEs?
2. What does the Commission intend to do to promote cross-border activity?
3. Has the Commission produced any figures on the situation regarding access to public procurement for SMEs if the threshold at which a contract must be put out to tender throughout the EU were raised or lowered?
4. In the course of 2011, Denmark will set up a central platform on which all Danish contracts that fall below the EU threshold value will be displayed on a website to which everyone has easy and unrestricted access. As things currently stand at EU level, however, only contracts that exceed the EU threshold for public procurement need be published in the common European TED (Tenders Electronic Daily) database. National rules apply as to how contracts that fall below the EU threshold value are advertised. This often means that contracts are only advertised locally and the wider public does not get to know about them. Has the Commission considered, or even looked into the consequences of, developing a common system for all contracts, along the lines of the Danish model?
- [1] http://www.kl.dk/MailSetup/Nyhedsbreve/Momentum/2011/04/Momentumn-nr-42011-12-april-2011/
OJ C 365 E, 15/12/2011