Activities of Heide RÜHLE related to 2011/2048(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Modernisation of public procurement (debate)
Modernisation of public procurement (debate)
Reports (1)
REPORT on modernisation of public procurement PDF (366 KB) DOC (266 KB)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on modernisation of public procurement
Amendments (32)
Amendment 1 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 1 a (new)
Citation 1 a (new)
- having regard to the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty regarding public services, notably the Protocol 26 on services of general interest that calls for a high level of quality, safety, access and user rights and acknowledges explicitly the right to regional and local self- government,
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Takes the view that public procurement practices play an important role in the efficiency of public spending and also in the impact of public investment on the economy, particularly on sustainable growth and innovation, all of which are overarching aims of cohesion policy; points out that public procurement should not follow the lowest price principle but take into account the sustainable and economic most advantageous tender including life-cycle-cost;
Amendment 9 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas a properly functioning procurement market is of essential importance with a view to fostering the single market, stimulating competition and innovation, promoting a high level of environmental and climate protection and socials well as quality of work, social cohesion and inclusion, and achieving optimal value for citizens, businesses and taxpayers,
Amendment 13 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A a (new)
Recital A a (new)
Aa. whereas European public procurement rules have contributed substantially to increase transparency and equal treatment, to fight against corruption and to professionalise the procurement process;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A b (new)
Recital A b (new)
Amendment 24 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Points out that public procurement rules have become overly complex and too detailed, leading to costly and burdensome administrative procedures; recommends simplification as far as possible, with clarifications where necessary; points out that the increased use of information technology will also play a major role in reducing administration and costs, and that European initiatives on e-procurement should therefore be alignedconsidered in conjunction with the reform of the procurement rules;
Amendment 32 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Asks the Commission to effectively address the serious failures to comply with public procurement rules repeatedly identified by the Court of Auditors in the implementation of projects under the ERDF and the Cohesion Fund, which account for 43 % of all quantifiable errors according to the Court'’s Report for 2009; stresses the need for legal clarification of the directives in order to avoid further failures in applying the public procurement rules;
Amendment 39 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Recalls its resolution of May 2010 on recent developments in public procurement, which took note of the ECJ case-law and took the view that public- public cooperation was not subject to public procurement rules as long as the following criteria were met: that the purpose of the partnership was the provision of a public-service task conferred on all the local authorities concerned and that the task was carried out solely by the public authorities concerned, i.e. without the involvement of private capital, transfer of competences between public sector organizations is a matter of the internal administrative organization of the Member States and not subject to procurement; underlines that those clarifications should be codified in the procurement directives;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Asks the Commission to simplify the procedural framework as a whole by avoiding exceptions and derogations to be applied by contracting authorities and to clarify the uncertainties expressed by the latter on awards below the thresholds of the directives as well as public-public cooperation.
Amendment 72 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Takes the view that, in order to develop the full potential of public procurement, the criterion of the lowest price should be removed, and that in principle there should be only one option for the award of contracts: the most economically advantageous tender – including the entire life-cycle costs of the relevant goods, services or works – should be chosenmost economically advantageous offer including the entire life-cycle cost of the relevant goods, services or works should be the principle, following the apply or explain principle which means either you follow this principle or you have to explain publicly why you have chosen another criteria; asks the Commission to develop a methodology for the calculation of life-cycle costs on a broad basis;
Amendment 85 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Takes the view that public procurement should contribute to achieving quality jobs with good wages and working conditions, equality and high levels of skills and workers participation;
Amendment 97 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10
Paragraph 10
10. Underlines the fact that whether or not a product or service has been sustainably produced is rightly considered to be a characteristic of the product which can be used as a criterion for comparison with products or services that have not been sustainably produced as to enable contracting authorities to control the environmental and social impact of contracts awarded by them in an transparent way but on the same time not to weaken the necessary link to the subject matter of the contract; points out that the scope for including requirements regarding the production process in the technical specifications for all types of contracts should be clarified; points to the Wienstrom case, which has become the classic example of how and why production characteristics can be categorised as technical specifications;
Amendment 101 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 a (new)
Paragraph 10 a (new)
10a. Underlines the need to strengthen the sustainability dimension of public procurement by allowing this to be integrated at each stage of the procurement process (i.e. ability test, technical specifications, contract performance clauses);
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10 b (new)
Paragraph 10 b (new)
10b. Notes the importance of standards for public procurement in that they can help public procurers to meet their policy objectives in an effective and transparent way, calls in that respective for the development of a frequently updated database of standards, especially those relating to environmental and social criteria, to be made available to public authorities, in order to ensure that procurers have access to appropriate guidance and a clear set of rules when drawing up tenders, so that they can easily verify their compliance with the relevant standard;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Points out that increased awareness of the environmental and climate impact of products and activitigoods, works and services means that the possibility for public authorities to favour local suppliers should be considered, and the extent to which internal market rules allow this examined;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 a (new)
Paragraph 11 a (new)
11a. Asks for a proper examination of the significant thresholds as well as the advantages and disadvantages of an aggregation of demand – especially in the view of giving SMEs’ ready access to public procurement;
Amendment 119 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11 b (new)
Paragraph 11 b (new)
11b. Asks for more space for negotiation and communication combined with measures to assure transparency and to prevent abuse and discrimination. Market consultation should be explicitly allowed as a possible first step;
Amendment 159 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Regrets that tenderers have only limited opportunities to rectify omissions in their bids; asks the Commission, therefore, to elaborate on what omissions may be rectified by bidders and what additional adjustments are allowed and on how to guarantee transparency and equal treatment;Does not affect the English version.
Amendment 162 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Points out that the contracting authorities should have the possibility to benefit from previous experience with a tenderer on the basis of, with an official evaluation report; recommends setting and a time limit for exclusions, which; this should guarantee transparency and objectivity;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22
Paragraph 22
22. Proposes that self-declarations be allowed where feasible, and that original documents be requested only from the shortlisted candidates or the successful tenderer; asks the Commission to promote the option of a ‘procurement passport’, preferably in the form of a standardised electronic registration system at national level, since a passport of this kind would demonstrate that an operator has the declarations and documentation that are requested; believes that this would save considerable time and costs; underlines that a European pre-qualification system could be a helpful instrument if it is kept simple, cheap and easily accessible for SMEs;
Amendment 199 #
Motion for a resolution
Title after paragraph 22 (new)
Title after paragraph 22 (new)
Fifth Task: ensuring sound procedures and avoiding unfair advantages;
Amendment 200 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Points out that combating corruption and favouritism is one objective of the directives; underlines that Member States face different challenges in this area and a more elaborate European approach bears the risk to undermine the efforts to streamline and simplify the rules but create new bureaucracy; points out that the principles of transparency and competition are key in combating corruption; asks for a common approach on self-cleaning measures to avoid market distortion and ensure legal certainty for economic operators and contracting authorities alike;
Amendment 201 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 b (new)
Paragraph 22 b (new)
22b. Takes the view that, since public contracts concern public funds, they should be transparent and open to public scrutiny; asks the Commission for clarification with a view to ensuring legal certainty for local and other public authorities and enabling them to inform citizens of their contractual obligations;
Amendment 202 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 c (new)
Paragraph 22 c (new)
22c. Calls on the Commission to assess the problems associated with extraordinary low bids and to propose appropriate solutions; recommends contracting authorities to provide for early and sufficient information to other bidders in cases of abnormally low bids in order to allow them to assess if there is ground for initiating a review procedure; asks for a better coherence between the common external trade policy of the EU and practices in Member States accepting exceptionally low bids.
Amendment 203 #
Motion for a resolution
Title after paragraph 22 (new)
Title after paragraph 22 (new)
Sixth Task: Expanding the use of e- Procurement
Amendment 204 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 d (new)
Paragraph 22 d (new)
22d. Welcomes the Commission Green Paper on expanding the use of e- Procurement; points out that the e- Procurement action plan has failed to achieve its goal and that more political leadership at all levels of government – including EU – is needed to maintain and accelerate the transition to e- Procurement;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 e (new)
Paragraph 22 e (new)
22e. Underlines that the Commission has a unique role to play in promoting standardisation and infrastructure issues, e-Signatures and time-stamps for example need a commonly agreed format for security purposes; asks the Commission to develop the common standards in question; emphasises that onerous technical requirements for bidder authentification can act as barriers to operators;
Amendment 206 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 f (new)
Paragraph 22 f (new)
22f. Underlines that to ensure interoperability of different systems and avoid vendor lock-in, open standards and technology neutrality must be observed; asks the Commission to assure real interoperability between the different platforms for e-Procurement which already exist in Member States;
Amendment 207 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 g (new)
Paragraph 22 g (new)
22g. Points out that any legislative proposals to expand and simplify the use of e-Procurement should be integrated into the review of the main Public Procurement Directives and be in line with the scope and the general public procurement rules such as obligations linked to thresholds;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 h (new)
Paragraph 22 h (new)
Amendment 209 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 i (new)
Paragraph 22 i (new)
22i. Points out that the legislation is not the only key to promote changes; asks therefore the Commission to explore new ways to exchange experiences, share best practices and transfer knowledge across borders among local and regional actors; highlights that there is a strong need to further build the capacity and understanding of staff dealing with e- Procurement as well as to assist SMEs in knowledge and capacity building via national and/or EU incentives to secure a "level playing field" between SMEs and large enterprises;
Amendment 210 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 j (new)
Paragraph 22 j (new)
22j. Welcomes the announcement in the European Commission’s eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015 to develop the epractice.eu platform into an effective tool for the exchange of experience and information for Member States and eGovernment practitioners and strongly advocates for extending the scope to local and regional practitioners; welcomes EU initiatives such as PEPPOL and e- CERTIS;