To create equal opportunities for all businesses, the EU law establishes a set of harmonized public procurement rules. The regulatory framework contains information on the principles of implementation and models of procurement organization, control and review.

Sources of legal regulation:

• The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which was adopted in 2007 and entered into force in 2009, does not contain separate regulations on public procurement. At the same time, the Treaty establishes several fundamental principles that ensure the functioning of the EU market. The most relevant in terms of public procurement are the prohibition of discrimination on the basis of nationality, the free movement of goods, services and funds, and the freedom of establishment.
• General principles of EU law are provisions of a more general nature, developed in case-law, determining the content and tenor of EU law norms. Used in a non liquet situation (in the absence of applicable law).

EU Directives:

• Directive 2014/23/EU on the award of concession contracts dated February 26, 2014;
• Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement dated February 26, 2014;
• Directive 2014/25/EU on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors dated February 26, 2014;
• Directive 2014/55/EU on electronic invoicing in public procurement dated April 16, 2014;
• Directive 2009/81/EC on procurement in the defense and security sector dated July 13, 2009;

The 2014 Directives changed and streamlined the procurement process in four main ways:

• accelerated the transition to an electronic system of public procurement by securing the possibility of electronic declaration for bidders;
• facilitated SME participation through “splitting in public procurement” (splitting one contract into smaller ones);
• simplified administrative procedures of submitting documents, publishing notifications, and revising the contracts that have already been signed;
• contributed to addressing social and environmental challenges through the use of new criteria for evaluating the bids of public procurement participants.

The European Commission is generally responsible for development of a common policy on public procurement.

• Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) is an online portal that publishes around 520,000 public procurement announcements worth more than EUR 420 billion annually. It is the main aggregator and platform for public procurement at the EU level.
• Public Procurement Data Space (PPDS). PPDS aims to integrate TED and national procurement databases to form a single procurement market. PPDS is also intended to enable the rapid tracking of contracts regardless of price level, the evaluation of procurement performance and the adjustment of EU policies.
• The European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) is a self-declaration form used in public procurement procedures. Prior to the introduction of the ESPD, companies had to submit various documents to prove that they could participate in the procurement procedure (e.g. tax certificate, certificate of good conduct). With the ESPD, companies can do it using a single form. Only the successful bidder must submit a complete package of documents. The list of documents can be found on eCertis.
• eInvoicing. Represents an invoice issued, sent and received in a structured data format that allows for automatic and electronic processing as defined in the eInvoicing Directive. The European Commission introduced this standard in 2017 to harmonize the electronic invoice formats used in the EU and to promote simplification and significant cost savings for all stakeholders.

The EU directives provide for two different stages in the evaluation of public procurement participants. The Selection Stage is the stage of selection of candidates who have expressed interest in participating in the competition for the contract. Regardless of the procurement procedure, there are a number of requirements for candidates. If a bidder fails to meet the requirements, it shall be excluded from the procurement. To ensure equal opportunities for all procurement participants, the list of requirements is set out in Directive 2014/24/EC.

The conditions of tender participation that the contracting authority may establish, and non-compliance with which is a ground for exclusion from the competitive procedure, can be divided into three groups.

• Personal standing. Candidates must be excluded from the process if they have been convicted within the last five years of an offence relating to: participation in a criminal organization, corruption, financial fraud, terrorism, human trafficking. Other grounds for exclusion include non-compliance with EU environmental regulations, withholding of personal data, conflict of interest and failure to fulfill obligations under a previous contract.
• Economic and financial standing. The contracting authority may set minimum requirements in terms of annual turnover, credit rating, insurance.
• Technical and/or professional ability. The contracting authority may establish minimum requirements with respect to the level of professional competence of employees, technological equipment and technical documentation, compliance with quality standards and production safety.

Tender Stage is the stage where a winning tenderer is determined. The Directives stipulate that the selection criteria should be objective, transparent and equal for all, thus ensuring the conditions for effective competition. In determining the winner, the contracting authority, guided by the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) principle, uses a number of criteria of both price and non-price nature.

In this case, according to Article 67(2) of Directive 2014/24/EC, the contracting authority may employ two approaches:

• Cost effectiveness approach. The contract shall be concluded with the tenderer who offered the lowest contract price.
• Best Price-Quality Ratio (BPQR). In addition to price, a number of other criteria are taken into account: quality of the product or service, date and terms of delivery, follow-up service, etc.