CONSEIL EUROPÉEN DES CHAMBRES D'INGÉNIEURS
ECEC
The ECEC is the umbrella organisation of European Engineers Chambers.
ID: 637226849818-56
Lobbying Activity
Meeting with Valentina Schaumburger (Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné) and European Federation of Engineering Consultancy Associations and
10 Sept 2025 · Discussion on the upcoming revision of the public procurement Directives
Response to Evaluation of the Public Procurement Directives
6 Mar 2025
New sector for intellectual (including engineering) services: Due to the specific nature of intellectual services, the complexity of interactions, and the interdependencies among participants, a special chapter for intellectual services is required in the Public Procurement Directive. The current legal situation does not correspond to the nature of intellectual services and thus seriously jeopardizes the quality of the results of the procedure. Quality competition for intellectual engineering services: Quality instead of prize competition must become obligatory for intellectual services such as engineering services. Only this can ensure the best as well as most economical solutions and guarantee public health and safety. Negotiated procedure: Due to the high complexity of engineering services and the information asymmetry between service providers and clients the negotiated procedure should be the standard procedure for the awarding of engineering services No more excessive capacity requirements: SMEs play an important role in ensuring economic growth and innovation. Their participation in procurement procedures is therefore important for the economy and for society. Thus, quantitative references such as turnover figures, number of employees, number of references built that can hinder their access to public procurement should be adequate. Abnormally low tenders: Abnormally low tenders have a negative impact on the high-quality standards of engineering services A common procedure should be established at the EU level, obliging contracting authorities based on studies of independent bodies about scope and remuneration of engineering services - to systematically assess whether a tender constitutes an abnormally low offer. Methods for calculating the estimated value of procurement To avoid inadequate procedures and access barriers when calculating the contract value, only similar planning services should be added together. Additionally, contracting authorities need to ensure a clear project assessment plan and base their decisions on up-to-date and relevant market information, which includes considering current market prices for the goods, services or work being procured. Eligibility to apply for a review of tender and competition documents: Implementing the right of professional institutions to apply for review of tender and competition documents before the court would lead to a fundamental improvement in the quality of public procurement in general. Payment: Payment structures for engineering services that are linked to conditions beyond the actual scope of service performance (e.g., linking supervision service payments to the contractors progress) must be forbidden. Revision of prices: The Directive should require that public contracts include price revision clauses that are clearly, precisely, and unambiguously stated from the outset in the bidding documents. No framework agreement: Framework agreements tie up key personnel who could productively in other projects and force contractors to submit offers that cannot be reliably calculated. (Especially) Intellectual services should therefore not be awarded by means of a framework agreement. Adequate thresholds: The current EU thresholds no longer do justice to European and global political circumstances such as high inflation. Particularly in view of the complex, expensive and long EU-wide procurement process the threshold value needs to be increased in line with the EU priorities of more competitiveness and less bureaucracy. Tackling the problem of late payment: In context with the evaluation of public procedure it is important to also tackle the problem of late payment as in terms of payment times, in some countries public-sector clients are still among the worst payers, despite the crucial importance of public-sector contracts.
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