The Liberalisation of Public Procurement and its Effects on the Common Market

First published in 1998, Public Procurement in the European Community has been considered as the most-important non-tariff barrier for the completion of the common market and its liberalisation reflects the attempts of law and policy makers to enhance competitiveness in the public sector and achieve uniform patterns of industrial efficiency. The opening-up of procurement stresses the fact that the Member States must embark upon a process of changing their public sector management ethos and adopt more market-orientated parameters (value for money, efficiency, improved risk management, market testing, outsourcing, private finance, savings) in the delivery of public services, alongside the principles of transparency and public accountability. The book is addressed to academics and researchers in the fields of law, public policy and government studies, legal practitioners, policy makers, government officials as well as industry executives. It provides a multi-disciplinary analysis of public procurement law and policy and assesses its impact on the European integration process. It investigates the implications of the opening-up of the European public markets on other legal and economic systems in the world and analyses the regulation of public purchasing as part of the emerging Economic Law of the European Union.