Public purchasing in the European Union: some evidence from contract awards
International Journal of Public Sector Management
ISSN: 0951-3558
Article publication date: 1 July 1997
Abstract
Explains that the public sector is a major buyer of goods and services. In the mid‐1980s discriminatory (buy national) public purchasing was identified as one of the barriers to the completion of the Single European Market. Studies suggested that a more liberal public purchasing regime would bring significant economic benefits with increased competition for contracts reducing public sector procurement costs and facilitating the creation of a more competitive European industrial base. These ideas led to a series of European Union procurement directives designed to prohibit preferential public purchasing. Uses data on contract awards from 1993 to investigate the extent to which public purchasing still discriminates in favour of domestic firms. This evidence casts doubts on the true extent of openness in EU public procurement markets.
Keywords
Citation
Martin, S., Hartley, K. and Cox, A. (1997), "Public purchasing in the European Union: some evidence from contract awards", International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 279-293. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513559710180547
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 1997, MCB UP Limited