DG REGIO Peer2Peer Expert Communities are working intensively again

On 19th November an on-line meeting of the Public Procurement group was held with the participation of CEUTP expert and about 40 representatives of institutions from other EU Member States involved in the management and control process within EU projects.

The meeting began with the introduction of key participants, including representatives of DG REGIO, DG GROW, PwC and Community Champions, i.e. the leaders of the group, who present issues selected by themselves and the participants, thereby setting the tone for the group’s work.

The role of Community Champions in the group is performed by:

• representative of the CEUTP (Control and Audit Department) – Przemysław Ostrowski;
• representative of the Public Procurement Agency from Bulgaria (Directorate for Legislation and Methodology) – Kristina Vasileva;
• representative of the Minstry of Transport and Communication from Bulgaria – Yasen Markov;
• representative of Audit Authority in Croatia (ARPA) – Antonija Ćurić.

Mr Przemysław Ostrowski (CEUTP) was the first to speak. He raised the topic of the recent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union in the field of public procurement (C-534/23P and C-539/23P Instituto Cervantes and Kingdom of Spain v European Commission and C 82/24 Miejskie Przedsiębiorstwo Wodociągów i Kanalizacji w m.st. Warszawie S.A. v Veolia Water Technologies sp. z o.o.) and additionally indicated information on the origin of products in public procurement (based on the sentence of Court of Justice of the European Union C-243/89 Commission of the European Communities v Kingdom of Denmark and on newly established “Team for the Participation of the National Component in Key Investment Processes” in Poland).

Afterwards, Ms Ortiz Gonzalez (DG Grow) presented an evaluation of the 2014 Public Procurement directives, indicating improvements in transparency but highlighting ongoing issues with legal clarity and flexibility. She noted that while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have secured a considerable share of contracts, cross-border participation has not met expectations and also raised concerns about corruption risks in public procurement.

The last part of this meeting was presentation held by Ms Antonija Ćurić (Audit Authority from Croatia) and Mr Yasen Markov (Ministry of Transport and Communication from Bulgaria). They focused on origin of products in public procurement and so-called Union Customs Code with its definitions which can be difficult to introduce into practice especially in the area of services.

This event proved once again that Peer2Peer provides an interactive, needed and rapidly growing platform for the exchange of knowledge and experience between public administration employees in the EU. This meeting was attended by new members who had not previously participated in its work, which further confirm its development potential. As it was pointed out, there is a need to organize a live meeting, especially with the possibility of meeting with other Peer2Peer groups.

Community meeting will continue, particularly given the value of exchanging information on public procurement case law in order to stay up to date and enhance knowledge and expertise.