Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2011-10-24-Speech-1-064-000"
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"en.20111024.14.1-064-000"2
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"Madam President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, this evening, I would like to thank you all for your positive and trusting cooperation in recent weeks.
Public procurement is a complex subject; unfortunately, it is also characterised by many conflicting interests. I feel that this makes it all the more important for Parliament to show a united front on this. That can only be done by making compromises, with each group gaining something and losing something. The unanimous vote in committee sent out an important signal. I hope that this compromise will stand firm in the vote tomorrow, but I am also quite optimistic.
What is it that we want to achieve together? On the one hand, it is a matter of careful reform of the rules on procurement. We need to keep what has proven its worth, such as the classification into A and B service categories and the separation into two directives; but where there has been a lack of legal certainty, we need to improve that. After all, we are all aware that public procurement was one of the major sources of error in the area of the Structural Funds. That is why it is important to have some clear definitions in this area and to define the scope clearly.
A further focal point will be simplification of the procurement directives and making them more flexible. At a time of such deep economic crisis, we have particular need of clear, simple rules. Only then can public procurement be a motor for sustainable development and innovation.
The contracting authorities have a particular role to play in this crisis. Public procurement accounts for 17% of gross domestic product. This means that we can use public procurement to steer development towards sustainable products, taking into account life-cycle costs, and we can foster more innovative development. We do not necessarily want the cheapest; what we want is the most economically advantageous offer, and we certainly want an offer that includes the entire life-cycle costs of the goods, services and works.
A further point that we focused on in committee is improving access for small and medium-sized enterprises. Small and medium-sized enterprises are the backbone of the European economy, and it is important that they have easier and better access to public procurement. We want to lower their transaction costs, we want to allow contracts to be divided into lots and promote this to a greater extent. We want to simplify and facilitate the administration involved by using prequalification systems or electronic passports.
Another focal area will be the strengthening of electronic procurement or e-procurement, because e-procurement will enable costs to be reduced and the whole process to be speeded up. E-procurement can also be used to increase the transparency of the whole procedure.
Nonetheless, it is important for Parliament to point out that this legislation is only the first step. What we need in the area of public procurement is greater professionalism on both sides – both among the contracting authorities and among small and medium-sized enterprises, for example. We want an exchange of best practice models, we want more training programmes, but, of course, we also want to make it possible and easier for people to deal with public procurement by focusing on aspects such as standardisation.
I hope this report will receive your support tomorrow. Obviously, there are some minor improvements that can be made, and we will debate these today. There are one or two things that can no doubt be improved, but the general line and the compromises should stand firm in the vote tomorrow. This Parliament will then be able to have an influence on the revision of the public procurement directives."@en1
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