New SSRN working paper on Qualification, Selection and Exclusion of Economic Operators Under Spanish Public Procurement Law

I have just uploaded a new working paper on the University of Leicester School of Law Research Paper Series.
 
This paper provides an overview of the rules on qualification, selection and exclusion of economic operators for the purposes of public procurement under Spanish law (mainly, Royal Decree Law 3/2011, which approves the consolidated text of the Public Sector Contracts Act). 
It focuses on the transposition of the EU rules under Directive 2004/18 (as Directive 2014/24 is yet to be transposed), as well as their interpretation and implementation by the Spanish judiciary and public procurement advisory bodies, central and regional. 
Where relevant, it identifies points of convergence or departure with the rules of Directive 2014/24 as areas of particular relevance for legislative reform in view of ensuring a proper transposition prior to April 2016.
The full reference is: A Sanchez-Graells, Qualification, Selection and Exclusion of Economic Operators Under Spanish Public Procurement Law (January 22, 2015). University of Leicester School of Law Research Paper No. 15-01 http://ssrn.com/abstract=2554042
 

Current Proposals on Exclusion, Qualitative Selection and Shortlisting in EU Public Procurement

I have just uploaded on SSRN a short new paper, which provides some initial thoughts on the new rules on exclusion, qualitative selection and short-listing in the 2011 proposal for a new public sector procurement Directive, as amended by the 30 November 2012 Compromise Text published by the Council. The assessment is based on a comparison with the equivalent rules under current Directive 2004/18/EC, as well as on the implementation difficulties that I envisage.

In the paper, I reach the following conclusions:
As this brief overview of the novelties and changes proposed by the Compromise Text on the rules concerning exclusion, qualitative selection and short-listing has shown, the Commission has presented (and the Council is willing to allow for) reform proposals that aim to generate some simplification and flexibilisation of the current rules. The Compromise Text has also tried to clarify and improve the drafting of the current Directives and to consolidate requirements and avoid duplication where possible.
The search for flexibility and simplification is particularly clear concerning the rules that aim to make exclusion of economic operators a dynamic activity (§2.2), that increase the scope and power for contracting authorities to seek clarifications and source additional information from tenderers (§2.4), that allow for an evaluation of the effectiveness of self-cleaning measures adopted by economic operators that should otherwise be excluded (§3.3), or that allow for a ‘certificate-less’ qualitative selection of candidates, subject to an ex post verification of the self-declarations submitted (§4.5). However, such flexibility does not come without risks and contracting authorities must tread lightly if they want to avoid challenges based on potential abuses of their (increased) administrative discretion. Moreover, the extent and weight of the obligations derived from the principle of good administration are expanding and this needs being duly taken into consideration.
There are also clear indications of a clearer integration of public procurement and competition rules (such as the possibility to exclude bid riggers, §3.2) and of the use of public procurement as a lever to ensure compliance with social, labour and environmental rules, in a classic example of pursuit of secondary (or horizontal) considerations in procurement (§2.3). This shows that, despite the search for simplification, the (asymmetrical) integration of public procurement and other economic and non-economic policies by necessity depicts a more complicated scenario that requires further professionalism and capacity building in the Member States, as well as more cooperation between contracting authorities and other competent authorities, such as national competition or environmental agencies.
All in all, in my view, EU public procurement regulation continues becoming more and more sophisticated (and complicated), the Compromise Text does not solve all problems and creates some new and, consequently, public procurement litigation will continue playing a key role in the clarification of the applicable rules.