The EU's public procurement rules govern the way in which public bodies prurchase goods, services and works, and seeks to guarantee equal access to and fair competition for public contracts within the EU market. The European Commission has been reviewing these rules in the past year and has now published revised legislative proposals.
***What do EU public procurement rules mean for NHS commissioning?***
The NHS European Office will be hosting a break-time hub session at the NHS Confederation 2012 Annual Conference with leading law firm Browne Jacobson LLP. The session will look at what the complex EU public procurement rules mean for NHS organisations. This issue is particularly timely for the NHS as it adapts to the reforms and this session will summarise in practical terms the key points NHS commissioners and providers should be aware of.
The session will take place during the morning coffee break on Thursday 21 June (10.20 - 11.20am). Come along and hear more about this important subject.
Download briefing on new EU proposals for public procurement
The European Commission published new proposals to revise existing EU public procurement law on 20 December 2011. The proposals contain a number of provisions aimed at simplifying the rules for the purchasing of goods and services and making them more flexible. While much of what is proposed is to be welcomed by the NHS, further clarity, and subsequent changes, are still required on some of the proposals.
The proposals include:
- increased flexibility and simplification on, for example, procedures to follow, negotiations and time limits.
- a special regime for health service contracts; which will replace the distinction between Part A and Part B services. The proposal takes account of the limited cross-border interest by providing a specific regime for the award of public contracts for health and social services services, with a higher threshold of EUR 500,000 and imposing only the respect of the basic principles of transparency and equal treatment. Contract notices and award notices above this amount will now need to be published in the OJEU.
- the distinction between selection and award criteria will be more flexible.
- clarification on when co-operation between public bodies is not subject to public procurement rules.
- life cycle costing will now be possible through MEAT criteria or lowest cost which replaces the “price only” criterion.
- innovation partnerships, which is a new special procedure for the development and subsequent purchase of new, innovative products, works and services. It can be used provided that they can be delivered to agreed performance levels and costs.
The full EU proposals can be read here.
The NHS European Office has published a briefing on the proposed rules, which outlines what it considers to be the main implications for the NHS. The new rules are particularly timely given developments currently taking place within health and social care in England and government principles to encourage NHS organisations to procure goods and services from a broader range of suppliers.
You can also read the background to the European Commission's review of the rules below.
Next steps
These proposals will now pass through the EU's usual co-legislative procedure, with agreement needed between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The NHS European Office will produce a briefing of the new proposals and will be working hard to influence the rules in the interest of the NHS as they are discussed in Brussels.
For further information, please contact: elisabetta.zanon@nhsconfed.org
How to Buy, What to Buy - Responding to the European Commission's earlier consultation
The European Commission published a consultation in January 2011 to investigate ways in which these rules could be revised to overcome a number of challenges that exist currently.
Challenges addressed within the consultation paper included the administrative burden linked to procurement procedures, transaction costs and the inflexibility and complexity of existing protocol. The NHS European Office published a summary of the consultation, highlighting the issues and questions raised of most relevance to NHS organisations and sought feedback from a range of commissioners and providers.
Following feedback, the NHS European Office submitted a response to the Green Paper on behalf of NHS organisations. The response called for:
- a set of simple, clear rules to be applied to procurement contracts in general
- an increase in the thresholds at which EU public procurement rules apply
- greater flexibility in terms of timescales and more freedom to make adjustments throughout the procurement process
- more flexibility in the organisation and sequence of selection and award criteria
- regulation only at national level in terms of "what to buy"
The NHS European Office has also recently contributed to an article on the revision of the public procurement rules in the August 2011 edition of 'Public Service' magazine. You can read the full article here.
Procurement of green vehicles
In 2009, the NHS European Office worked with Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and the Council (representing environment ministers from EU countries) during negotiations to agree new EU rules on the procurement of 'green' vehicles.
The rules aimed to drive the market for clean energy-efficient vehicles by requiring the public sector to consider the environmental impact of all of the vehicles that it purchases. At UK level this ambition was interpreted to also include the purchase of vehicles and services for vehicles, including leasing.
The NHS European Office submitted an article to The Source magazine of the Health Estates and Facilities Management Association describing the changes in more detail. A representative from DfT also gave a presentation to the National Strategic Ambulance Fleet Group on this issue in July 2009.
Green procurement of catering services
European Policy Manager Tracy Cook participated in the 2009 Annual Conference of the Hospital Caterer's Association, where she delivered a presentation on "An EU approach to Greening NHS Catering Services".
New EU energy labelling rules
A new EU energy labelling scheme has been agreed which aims to improve the energy and environmental performance of products and services and foster uptake of better performing products by consumers.
The existing Energy Labelling Directive (ELD) applies to household appliances such as washing machines, dishwashers, freezers etc and requires retailers to display a comparative label on the goods offered which shows the level of energy consumption. This makes it easier for consumers to choose better energy-performing products.
The new rules extend beyond household appliances to cover all energy-related products (for example medical equipment, windows, boilers, etc). Where the EU has assessed energy consumption within a product group, public authorities will have to 'endeavour' to procure products belonging to the highest energy efficiency class. This will apply only to contracts over the public procurement thresholds.