Procurement planning in the EU: assessment from a bid rigging perspective

The procurement cycle begins with planning, which is an essential step for successful public contracts, because it helps procuring entities to identify their needs and decide what to buy, when and from what source. In this context, the European legislator enables procuring entities to conduct market consultations prior to tendering. However, though the preliminary market consultation promotes innovation in the public market, at the same time the risk of bid rigging can be increased. This article analyses the bid rigging issues that can arise when conducting market consultations and examines to what extent these issues have been effectively dealt with by the European Commission in the Guidance on Innovation Procurement as well as in the Notice on Tools to Fight Collusion in Public Procurement. Recommendations are also made for further and better reaction to the problem.