Public procurement
Public procurement refers to the process by which public authorities, such as government departments, local authorities or state-owned enterprises, purchase goods or services from the private sector.
Public procurement rules ensure that public money is properly used when public authorities make purchases from the private sector.
Assess your eligibility to participate in a foreign public procurement tender
To find out if you are entitled to participate in a given government procurement tender outside the EU use the My Trade Assistant for Procurement tool.
My Trade Assistant for Procurement aims to help European companies assess if they are entitled to participate in a public tender outside the EU. The assessment requires input by the user of information that is usually contained in the tender notice: the procuring entity, the subject matter and the estimated value of the procurement.
As a pilot project, the tool currently allows the assessment of government procurement tenders from Canada (based both on the GPA and the bilateral CETA). The next country to be covered will be Japan. Further countries will be integrated into the tool in due course.
My Trade Assistant for Procurement
How do governments award contracts to business
To prevent fraud, waste, corruption, or local protectionism, the laws of most countries regulate government procurement to some extent. Laws usually require the procuring authority to issue public (competitive) tenders if the value of the procurement exceeds a certain threshold.
The standard way of awarding contracts for goods to businesses is competitive tendering, which allows the greatest number of firms to bid. Within competitive tendering, there are different types of public procurement procedure.
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