Public Procurement
Public Procurement represents about 10% of GDP in Spain. Procurement creates a market in which undertakings compete to provide goods and services for the public bodies demands. Ensuring competition within Public Procurement procedures is a legal mandate but it also provides an incentive for undertakings to offer better goods and services at more competitive prices, which enhances the efficiency in public expenditure.
Competition advocacy in Public Procurement is a priority for the CNMC. This is why we undertake a varied number of activities: we provide guidance for a better design of tenders, we provide specific trainings to civil servants in charge of procurement procedures, me make analysis documents on different aspects of Public Procurement, we supervise the legal framework, we review tender documents and, in cases where competition is harmed, we can challenge before the Courts those administrative acts or regulations that represent an obstacle to the maintenance of effective competition.
Guidances and orientation on Public Procurement
We provide guidances that seek helping all those public officials responsible of public purchases to take decisions that favour and foster competition throughout the tender procedure. Today, our Guidance on Public Procurement and Competition (2011) is under revision. This revision is a work in progress built in phases, according to the normal procurement procedure: planning, preparation (bidding), contract award and contract performance.
Updating the Guidance on Public Procurement and Competition:
Analysis documents on Public Procurement
We analyse different aspects of Public Procurement in Spain and we propose thoughts and considerations in order to reach higher efficiency in this field by introducing better ways of fostering effective competition.
Analysis on draft regulation
The CNMC analyses the legal framework regarding Public Procurement to guarantee its compliance to better regulation principles in order to enhance competition properly. With this work, we contribute to our main objective: maximising efficiency in public expenditure.
IPN/CNMC/011/15
Analysis on tender documents
We review tender documents at a drafting stage. These documents will guide the tender procedure and we aim to make sure that effective competition is preserved among potential bidders. Competition will help maximising efficiency in public expenditure and improving the provision of goods or services.
INF/CNMC/004/23
Legal challenges
The CNMC can challenge, before the Courts, all those uncompetitive administrative acts and regulations that can represent an obstacle to the maintenance of effective competition in the markets. This is because we can use our “legal action capacity”.