With the aim of learning more about the European Union’s vision of innovative public procurement, our special guest at the ITeC Breakfast on February 2 was Philippe Le Quément, Head of Projects and Policies at the European Commission‘s Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, who explained the latest developments in the Public Procurement Directive. The Spanish government is still in the process of implementing this document, and the construction sector is waiting with a mixture of anticipation and apprehension to discover if the government will lessen the original intentions of the Directive with which Brussels is encouraging the participation of SMEs and public-private partnerships.

Philippe Le Quément: ‘The public-sector client and the service provider are neither partners nor friends, nor enemies to be exploited.’

Mr Le Quément emphasized the concept of innovative public procurement, with which the EU is seeking to break away from the old pattern of selection based on price alone. Costs will still be of key importance in the process, but instead of focusing exclusively on purchase price they will be spread over the whole lifecycle.

An earlier tendency being questioned is that of ‘omniscient planners’ who armour-plate their tendering procedures with extensive series of technical specifications covering the smallest details. The EU’s intention here is that the public-sector client’s conditions be limited to stating the functional requirements to be met, leaving firms bidding for the contract to outline the specific solutions they propose, which may be innovative.

The EU is aware that this entails a greater exposure to risks, which public administrators are not always willing to take, despite the presence of rules and regulations providing safeguards, as they do in the case of construction. The additional risk combines with a good deal of administrative inertia and with the fact that public purchasers are not always optimally trained and professionally prepared. Innovative public procurement requires more time and more effort, but it has a great potential – a potential it has already demonstrated in pilot projects whose results are surprising both clients and contractors.

The ITeC Breakfasts are part of a series of actions aimed at businesses and institutions that work with the Institute: the Sponsorship Programme and the ITeC Companies Club. The aim of these get-togethers is to discuss a subject of current interest, presented by a person of acknowledged importance in the particular field, in a format that combines quality first-hand information and a fluid dialogue between the guest speaker and those attending. We will continue to organise these activities over the course of the year.