1. Public procurement and Infrastructure implementation risk management
8 July 2019, Villa Mondragone
Katharina Knapton-Vierlich, Head of Unit (acting)
Public procurement strategy
Directorate - General for Internal Market, Industry,
Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission

2. Facts and Figures 50% of the ESIF 2014-2020 120 billion EUR
is spent via PP
14 % of EU GDP
billion EUR
PP is a strategic area for policy makers.
not just an administrative process, but an opportunity to deliver value for public money (14% of GDP!).
A partnership to improve the PP in practice. Beyond 2014 legal reform, improvement needs smart implementation of the new rules.
The Commission is ready to play its part. We will develop a range of support tools, (guidelines, best practices) for authorities.
6 PRIORITIES :
1. Wider uptake of strategic procurement
55% of tenders use lowest price only
Boost green, social and innovative procurement through guidance and best practices
Support for strategic sectors (IT, health, construction)
2. Professionalising public buyers
Encourage Member States to develop professionalisation strategies
Ensure buyers have the needed skills and competences
Provide necessary tools and support
3. Increase access to procurement markets
SMEs win only 45% of contracts
Make PP more atttractive for companies, also Xborder
Open international procurement markets (IPI!)
4. Improving transparency, integrity, data
Enable reporting of corruption
protecting whistleblowers against retaliation
More and better data, setting-up contract registers
5. Boosting the digital transformation of PP
Legal obligation in October 2018, but real benefits if all steps of PP process are digitalised
Roll-out of eProcurement is slow
Continue to provide technical & financial support to MS
6. Cooperating to procure together
Only 11% of procedures through cooperative PP
More cooperation leads to better outcomes
Joint procurement by multiple MS facilitated

3. Facts and Figures
• many large-scale infrastructure projects not executed according to the plan;
• budgets are frequently not respected and overspent;
• planning and implementation often take considerably longer than initially foreseen.

4. Facts and Figures
In our view, most overruns are foreseeable and avoidable. Many of the problems appear due to a lack of forward-looking risk management in all stages of the value chain and throughout the life cycle of a project.

5. General challenges in project preparation
Member States’ capacity and staff constraints
Ensure and retain financing
Complexity of preparing the projects
Feasibility studies, ex-ante evaluation, impact assessment, socio-economic analysis, cost-benefit analysis
Obtaining permits, environmental, building etc.
Stakeholders engagement and transparency of the process

6. Specific procurement risks
Coordination with other planning stages
Choice of procurement procedure
Administrative capacity
Review of procedures

7. A partnership with Member States
European Commission initiatives
Professionalisation of
public procurement
Advisory hub for large infrastructure projects
Guidance on public procurement to help administrations and beneficiaries make the most out of EU investments
More use of existing EU-level support:
EPEC, TAIEX Peer2Peer, specific training on PP for ESIF authorities

8. A dedicated advisory hub: The voluntary ex ante assessment mechanism for large infrastructure projects
What?
A helpdesk, to clarify issues before the project is mature enough to be notifiable under the mechanism.
A VOLUNTARY ex ante notification mechanism intended to give comfort to the promoters, once the project is mature enough, that their procurement procedures are in line with the EU rules.
an information exchange mechanism to learn from each other's experience with large infrastructure projects.
Projects with high importance for a Member State or the internal market:
250 million for the helpdesk, and
500 million for the notification.
Sectors: mainly in transport, energy, non-residential constructions and ICT.

9. infrastructure advisory hub

10. • the importance of having a strong project management team with experienced procurement experts and advisors in place cannot be overstated;
• the project management team and its advisors should take great care in developing a detailed procurement plan, selecting the appropriate tender procedure(s), and drafting proper tender documents and draft contract(s) prior to the formal start of the procurement procedures;
Any unresolved issues before launching public procurement procedures generate subsequent delays, due to requests for clarifications by the tenderers, the need to publish amendments, difficulties in the evaluation of the tenders, potential complaints, problematic contract management, etc.

11. Q&A