This Commission Staff Working Document presents an evaluation on the impact and effectiveness of EU public procurement legislation. The evaluation describes how the current legislative framework has evolved, its main characteristics, and how Member States have implemented the provisions. It analyses what contracting authorities and entities buy and how they buy it before moving on to the evolving policy environment and a detailed examination of the costs and benefits of the provisions and procedures. The evaluation also considers the extent of cross border trade and competition in public procurement markets and the extent of the impact on public expenditure in terms of savings, in order to assess to what extent the directives have achieved their objectives.
The findings of the evaluation will inform policy debate and help the Commission services in identifying possible improvements to existing legislation and policy. Along with responses to the Commission Green Paper on modernisation of public procurement legislation(COM/2011/0015), the evaluation constitutes an important input for the preparation of the Commission proposals for review of the Directives.