Sustainable Public Procurement and the Single Market – Is There a Conflict of Interest?

Abstract

Sustainable public procurement indicates that procurement is about more than just saving money. Other important interests such as social and environmental considerations can be promoted through public procurement. Thus, the Member States may use their purchasing power to procure goods and services that foster innovation, respect the environment and combat climate change while improving employment, public health and social conditions. However, the objective of the procurement rules is primarily to strengthen the single market and the EU's competitiveness. This article will discuss how sustainable procurement may be reconciled with the EU internal market law in general. It is the view of the author that contracting authorities within the EU cannot be given full freedom to set social and environmental requirements for the award of a public contract as such a development would undermine the Single Market. The newly proposed Directives on public procurement can therefore not be interpreted as a carte blanche for sustainable procurement. They show a possible way to foster innovation, improve the environment, public health and social conditions, but it should not be seen as a particularly simple or highly efficient way. (Less)