The EU Legality Principle in Public Procurement Contracts

Abstract

The early interest that EU law has demonstrated for public procurement contracts has gradually been molded into a sector-specific paradigm of European administrative law. Despite the constant movement of the sector counting already four generations of substantive and two generations of procedural EU law, its qualification as administrative law provides some pillars of stability; as an expression of a sui generis principle of legality, the award of public contracts is organized via formalistic, yet sometimes rigid and time-consuming procedures, due process emerging as a common principle among national and supranational administrative systems. Even though due process constitutes the gateway to accountability, the aim of the paper is limited to underlining the indicators of administrative procedure in the award of public contracts.