New Publication!
Our Early Stage Researcher Nadia Sava (Early Stage Researcher 4, Babeș-Bolyai University, supervised by Professor Dacian Dragoș, Babeș-Bolyai University) published a paper entitled The eForms Regulation and Sustainable Public Procurement Data Collection.
This paper was featured in Volume 18 (2023), Issue 3 of the EPPPL – European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review. This journal is ‘an international quarterly peer-reviewed journal that provides the reader with detailed coverage of all significant legal and policy developments in the Procurement and PPP areas across the European Union and beyond in the form of articles, case-law annotations, country reports and more’ (https://epppl.lexxion.eu/).
The article discusses the impact of the eForms Regulation on sustainable public procurement data collection among the European Union Member States. The Regulation is mandatory as of October 2023 and describes how contracting authorities should collect and publish certain information concerning the public procurement process. While the previous Standard forms did not call for mandatory sustainable public procurement data collection, nor does the current Regulation. The eForms provide for green and social fields, that can be filled in by contracting authorities, yet this is not an obligation. Having data on sustainability could bring significant advantages, such as ‘benchmarking and reporting compliance, identity tracking of subcontractors, identifying and enhancing sustainable considerations, and, more generally, for data-based policy-making’ (see page 179 of the article).
Excerpt from the article introduction (pages 177-178)
‘This paper describes the articulation of roles between the European Union and the Member States concerning the regulation and management of sustainable public procurement data collection. As of October 2023, the eForms Regulation will become the mandatory standard for public procurement data collection above the thresholds, including data on sustainability.1 This is a promising step towards monitoring green and social public procurement in all Member States. Nevertheless, in their current form, it is improbable that eForms can achieve this goal.
The creation of a sustainable public procurement data infrastructure should be a goal shared by both the European Union and the Member States. Each should play its role and have its responsibilities to reach this objective. However, none of them is assuming this role and both are winners in a game of eluding responsibility.2
The European Union plays the role of a standard-setter that acts in a top-down manner: it created the eForms, and holds the power to update this standard. For now, all sustainability data fields in the eForms are optional, meaning that Member States can decide if they collect this information or not.3 Member States hold an equally important position. They are in charge of implementing the eForms – they can decide to make sustainable public procurement data collection mandatory. Ideally, Member States should collect sustainable procurement data, even if it is not mandatory in the eForms, yet they lack the incentives to do so.4
This article is structured in four parts: an introduction (I); a critical comment on the new eForms Regulation (II); a discussion on the articulation of roles that the European Union and the Member States play in collecting sustainable public procurement data (III); and a conclusion (IV).’
Paper Abstract:
As of October 2023, the eForms Regulation will become the mandatory standard for public procurement data collection above the thresholds, including data on sustainability. The eForms have the potential to collect sustainable public procurement data and kickstart the process of monitoring green and social public procurement in all Member States. Nevertheless, in their current form, it is improbable that eForms can achieve this goal, because the Regulation makes all sustainable data collection fields optional. Member States can decide to collect sustainable public procurement data, but they lack proper incentives to do so. Both the European Union and Member States should take on the goal of creating a sustainable public procurement data infrastructure, with each its roles and obligations.
Keywords: sustainable public procurement, eForms Regulation, data collection, digitalising public procurement, monitoring.
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