12 Colum. J. Eur. L. 53 (2005 – 2006)
Christopher H. Bovis, Professor of Law and Jean Monnet Chair in European and Business Law, Lancashire Law School; Visiting Senior Research Fellow, IALS, University of London.
The new public procurement regime represents a considerable intellectual investment on the part of European institutions in order to integrate the public markets of the European Union. With a magnitude approaching one trillion Euros in supplies, works, and services, and representing approximately 15% of the EU’s GDP, public procurement regulation represents a key objective of the EU’s vision in becoming the most competitive economy in the world by 2010. This Article assesses the new public procurement legal framework and reveals the decisive influences to its formulation by reference to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice. The new public procurement Directives intend to simplify and modernize a regulatory regime that is so crucial to the functioning of a genuine common market within the European Union. This Article finally exposes the instrumental role of the European Court of Justice in shaping many of the newly introduced concepts in public procurement regulation and aligning them with well-established common policies of the European integration process.
