PUBLIC PROCUREMENT: INFRINGEMENTS AGAINST SPAIN, FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY AND AUSTRIA.

• Position: Brief Article

Spain - public supply contracts.The Commission believes that a 1995 Spanish law, which implements the EU public procurement Directives, is partially incompatible with EU law. In particular, it takes issue with Spain's exclusion of all private law companies from public procurement rules, even if some of their activities are in the public interest. The Commission also objects to the exclusion of "collaboration agreements" from the scope of the implementing law.Germany - waste treatment in Donau Wald.In February 1998 the City of Munich won a public contract for the treatment of waste in the Donau Wald area of Bavaria. However, it decided not to transport the waste itself but gave the contract to a private company for a 25 year period without a public call for tender. The Commission objects that there was no open European wide competition for this public service contract.France - Le Mans sewage plant.The Commission is investigating alleged irregularities in several calls for tender, worth almost Euro 2 million, launched by the local authority of Le Mans. The contracts concerned services at the Chauviniere sewage treatment plant. The authority short-listed only three candidates for the contract, while EU law stipulates a minimum of five candidates must be considered. In addition, it awarded a further contract without a "prior publication", thereby limiting competition. In a third contract, the Commission feels the authority confused the selection criteria with the award criteria.Italy - school buildings in Genoa.The municipality of Genoa failed to publish at EU level a call for tender for the planning of works on school buildings. As the value of the contract exceeded Euro 200,000, it should have been published in the EU Official Journal. Italy maintains the Directive does not apply because the tender concerns various tasks that are independent from one another, and do not individually exceed the threshold. The Commission does not accept this argument.Italy - operating tables for Ivrea Hospital.This case concerns the supply of operating tables to the hospital of Ivrea. The contract was awarded under a "negotiated procedure" without...