Do you need to read the 2018 Public Procurement Guidance?
2018 Public Procurement Guidance provides advice on avoiding the most common errors, keeping you up to date on the latest procurement regulations
All procurement practitioners within the EU responsible for delivering the purchase of public works should acquaint themselves with the 2018 Public Procurement Guidance for Practitioners issued by the European commission. The guide is aimed at helping practitioners involved in public procurement projects, providing procurement advice, highlighting areas where mistakes are typically made and showing how to avoid them.
The procurement advice aims to offer practical assistance to procurement officers
Structured around the main stages of a public procurement process, the guide covers the following areas:
- Preparation and planning
- Publication and transparency
- Submission of Tenders and the selection of tenderers
- Evaluation of tenders and award
- Contract implementation
The guidance takes procurement officers step by step through the process, highlighting areas where mistakes are typically made and showing how to avoid them. It helpfully uses colour coded symbols to flag crucial areas. Risk of Error is flagged by a red exclamation mark and red text and useful advice is flagged by a green tick followed by green text.
The public procurement guidance covers the main areas in Public procurement including:
- Works contracts
- Supply contracts
- Service contracts
Included is a handy tool kit to avoid errors in public procurement. These are understood as breaches of public procurement rules, regardless of what stage they occur. The tool kit sets out the most common errors detected by the Commission. In respect of each type of error the tool kit cross references the guidance and advice provided.
A useful checklist for the control of public procurement is provided. This check list cannot only be used by controllers and auditors, but by practitioners while performing their tasks. This is designed to enable them to verify if they are on the right track and that they are not overlooking an important aspect of the process.
Economic operators are becoming increasingly quick to challenge public procurement decisions and poor decisions can have expensive consequences. Hopefully the use of this guide by practitioners should enable them to ensure their processes and decisions are robust enough to withstand such challenges and avoid expensive mistake.
For more guidance and advice on procurement regulations contact our Public Procurement Team.
