The European Union (EU) aims to make public procurement in Europe more efficient. Three new directives were adopted in 2014 to improve the award of contracts to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the number of cross-border contracts, and competition in public tenders. On request of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection of the European Parliament, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Dr. h.c. Jörg Becker as well as Marco Niemann and Sebastian Halsbenning, both research assistants at the Chair of Information Systems and Information Management, prepared a study on the medium-term effects of the newer European procurement initiatives.

In their analyses, they were able to show,  that newly introduced reporting obligations significantly increase the quantity of data and that the share of cross-border procurement contracts increased within the analysis period (2009 to 2017). Nevertheless, there is still a need for action, particularly in the area of fair competition, as in many award procedures only individual bidders compete or domestic companies are preferred. Parallel to the economic dimension, the authors of the study also address challenges from the point of view of information management, which are reflected in poor data quality and inadequate processes.

Prior to the final report, Prof. Becker was already a guest in the European Parliament in July to present the preliminary results of the study.

The full text is available at: Contribution to Growth: European Public Procurement.