Short procurement reflection

I am teaching an undergraduate module on EU Public Procurement Law as an option for the LLB students at Leicester. One of the activites I have designed consists in asking students to submit short (500-word) 'reflection papers' assessing streamlined cases. The objective of this activity is to make sure that they have a strong hold of the mechanics of the system and the basic elements that contracting authorities need to take into account when making procurement decisions.
 
The first exercise asked them to “Highlight the advantages and the legal risks of resorting to a competitive procedure with negotiation instead of an open procedure for the supply of medical supplies such as vaccines.” They submitted some interesting reflections and, on that basis and with my own views, I have prepared the following model answer to give them feedback. I thought it could be of interest, despite its simplicity, so I am posting it here for your consideration. Comments welcome!
 
Medical supplies are highly commoditised goods[1] and relatively easy to subject to strict technical specifications (art 42(3)(b) dir2014/24), particularly when EU standards exist and may limit the ability of the contracting authority to reject standardised and CE-marked products (Medipac-Kazantzidis, C-6/05, EU:C:2007:337). This is particularly clear in the case of vaccines, given the very stringent processes that regulate their commercialisation.[2] Their supply can consequently be procured through open procedures (art 27 dir2014/24) and, possibly, even focus on cost-efficiency only (art 67(2) dir2014/24).
However, such a procurement strategy is likely to trigger a significant number of offers, which can result in significant evaluation and administrative costs for the contracting authority (CA). Hence, resorting to other procedures (or framework agreements) could be in the CA’s interest if it can limit the costs linked to the administration of the procedure without sacrificing technical or commercial advantages derived from significant competition.
A competitive procedure with negotiation (art 29 dir2014/24) would be available in this case if the CA can justify that it meets one of the grounds for its use (art 26(4) dir2014/24), and probably if it can justify the need for negotiations prior to award (art 26(4)(iii)). However, resorting to this procedure can be risky if avoidance of other options (mainly, a restricted procedure, art 28 dir2014/24) is seen as a circumvention of the applicable rules. The use of negotiated procedures has been limited in the case law (Commission v Italy, 199/85, EU:C:1987:115) and the changes introduced by Directive 2014/24 create uncertainty regarding CA’s actual freedom to negotiate.[3] However, this risk can be minimised by shortlisting in a transparent manner (art 65 dir2014/24).
The second main risk derives from the negotiation capacity of the CA. If the CA is inexperienced in negotiations, it can incur in both commercial risks derived from its inability to obtain the best possible economic conditions, and legal risks derived from an improper or discriminatory development of the negotiations (art 29(5) dir2014/24). It could also create risks if it does not have solid management procedures for confidential information and business secrets (idem).
Hence, in order to reap the benefits derived from the lower cost of the competitive procedure with negotiations, the CA needs to have strong legal and commercial expertise. If it does, this is a procedure from which it can benefit. Otherwise, the CA will be better off with the open procedure.
[1] EY, Pulse of the industry: Differentiating differently, Medical technology report 2014, 5. http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/ey-pulse-of-the-industry-report/$FILE/ey-pulse-of-the-industry-report.pdf (Accessed: 21.11.2014).
[2] For background information, see http://www.vaccineseurope.eu/about-vaccines/eu-regulatory-framework-for-vaccines/ (Accessed: 21.11.2014).
[3] For discussion, see P Telles and L Butler, ‘Public Procurement Award Procedures in Directive 2014/24/EU’, in F Lichère, R Caranta and S Treumer (eds), Novelties in the 2014 Directive on Public Procurement, vol. 6 European Procurement Law Series, (Copenhagen, DJØF Publishing, 2014). http://ssrn.com/abstract=2443438 (Accessed: 21.11.2014).

"Monitor and the Competition and Markets Authority": My new paper on health care, procurement and competition in the UK

I have just uploaded my new piece "Monitor and the Competition and Markets Authority" as the University of Leicester School of Law Research Paper No. 14-32. The paper looks at the institutional design for the enforcement of competition and public procurement rules in the health care sector in the UK and criticises the concurrency regime developed in 2013. It is linked to my previous paper on the substantive aspects of the NHS Competition, Choice and Procurement Regulations 2013 (about to be published in the Public Procurement Law Review and available here).

I will be presenting this new paper at the EUI (Florence), at a workshop on Antitrust Law in Healthcare organised by Prof Giorgio Monti. Comments welcome!
Abstract 
As part of its enforcement duties under the National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013, and in exercise of the powers assigned to it by the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the health care sector regulator for England (Monitor) is co-competent with the competition watchdog (Competition and Markets Authority) to enforce competition law in health care markets. Oddly, though, unlike other sector regulators, Monitor does not have a duty to promote competition but ‘simply’ to prevent anti-competitive behaviour. Monitor is also competent to carry out reviews and to decide bid disputes concerning procurement carried out by health care bodies, provided there is no formal challenge under the Public Contracts Regulations 2006.
This paper contends that such a concentration of regulatory, competition enforcement and procurement review powers puts Monitor in a unique situation of (potential) structural conflict of interest that can diminish significantly its ability to act as an effective (co-competent) competition authority. This paper focusses on this difficult structure for the enforcement of competition law in the health care sector in England, in particular due to the asymmetrical, sui generis concurrency regime created by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 and the Concurrency Regulations 2014. As examples of such conflict of interest and its implications, the paper assesses Monitor’s incentives to bend the interpretation of both art.101(3) TFEU and the new special regime on procurement of social services (arts.72-77 dir 2014/24). The paper concludes that this situation requires regulatory reform to devolve powers to the Competition and Markets Authority.
A Sánchez Graells, 'Monitor and the Competition and Markets Authority' (November 20, 2014). University of Leicester School of Law Research Paper No. 14-32. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2528569.

CJEU confirms strict approach against acceptance of incomplete submissions in public procurement (C-42/13)

In its Judgment in Cartiera dell’Adda and Cartiera di Cologno, C-42/13, EU:C:2014:2345, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has confirmed its strict approach against the acceptance of incomplete submissions in public procurement procedures, at least where the tender documentation imposes the (automatic, non-discretionary) rejection of non-compliant or non-fully compliant submissions. This Judgment is fully in line with its previous Judgment in Manova, C-336/12, EU:C:2013:647 and, consequently, Cartiera dell'Adda does not advance EU procurement law in a significant manner. However, given its brevity and the harshness of the solution adopted by the CJEU (at least if analysed in functional or practical terms), I think that the case deserves some further consideration.
 
In short, the CJEU has confirmed that the exclusion of a tenderer that omitted a declaration is acceptable under EU law, even if the declaration was not necessary or, in any case, the facts concerned by the declaration would not trigger exclusion. In an extreme reading, the case confirms the legality under EU procurement law of an absolute obligation to reject submissions that are 'merely' affected by strictly formal shortcomings [for discussion, see A Sanchez Graells, 'Rejection of Abnormally Low and Non-Compliant Tenders in EU Public Procurement: A Comparative View on Selected Jurisdictions', in M Comba & S Treumer (eds), Award of Contracts in EU Procurement, vol. 5 European Procurement Law Series (Copenhagen, DJØF, 2013) 289]. As mentioned, this is an area of very significant practical relevance and there is a need to properly understand the conditions under which such a stringent case law is being developed.
 
In that regard, it is important to highlight that, as the CJEU emphasises, the grounds for exclusion of tenderers expressly disclosed by the contracting authority in the tender documentation included situations where 
one of the documents and/or one of the sworn statements the purpose of which is to demonstrate that both the general and special requirements have been complied with is incomplete or irregular, except where any irregularity is of a purely formal nature and may be remedied but is not decisive for the assessment of the tender (C-42/13, para 10).
 
After juggling with the other (rather complicated) circumstances of the case, the CJEU clarifies the relevant legal dispute as a question of the
compatibility with European Union law of the fact that it is impossible for ... a tenderer, after submitting his bid, to remedy the fact that he failed to annex ... a statement to his bid [confirming that its technical director was not affected by mandatory exclusion grounds related to criinal records], whether by submitting such a statement to the contracting authority directly or by showing that the person concerned was identified as the technical director in error (C-42/13, para 40).
 
At this point, the CJEU reiterates its position in Manova, and stresses that "the contracting authority must comply strictly with the criteria which it has itself established, so that it is required to exclude from the contract an economic operator who has failed to provide a document or information which he was required to produce under the terms laid down in the contract documentation, on pain of exclusion" (para 42, emphasis added). The CJEU further reiterates that this strict requirement derives from the principles of equal treatment and transparency (paras 43-49).
 
It is also important to stress that the CJEU clearly indicates that "in so far as the contracting authority takes the view that that omission is not a purely formal irregularity, it cannot allow the tenderer subsequently to remedy the omission in any way after the expiry of the deadline for submitting bids" (para 45), which seems to create significant space for the flexibilisation of ommissions that can be remedied, particularly before the expiry of the deadline for submission of tenderers--but equally of omissions that can be reduced to purely formal irregularities.
 
More generally, in my view, the Manova - Cartiera dell'Adda line of case law offers some interesting opportunities for Member States and contracting authorities to avoid such impractical situations, provided they restrict themselves to the general rules under the new art 56(3)  of Directive 2014/24. This provision indeed stresses that
Where information or documentation to be submitted by economic operators is or appears to be incomplete or erroneous or where specific documents are missing, contracting authorities may, unless otherwise provided by the national law implementing this Directive [or excluded by themselves in the specific tender documents, as per Manova and Cartiera dell'Adda], request the economic operators concerned to submit, supplement, clarify or complete the relevant information or documentation within an appropriate time limit, provided that such requests are made in full compliance with the principles of equal treatment and transparency.
Consequently, any criticism against the Manova - Cartiera dell'Adda line of case law seems rather unjustified in view of the fact that the origin of any potential obligation to automatically and non-discretionally exclude non-compliant or incomplete submissions does not have an origin on the EU rules or their general principles (now in art 18(1) of dir 2014/24), but on excessively stringent domestic rules or, even worse, in the specific conditions imposed by the contracting authority in its own tender documentation. In the absence of those restrictions, EU law as interpreted in Manova - Cartiera dell'Adda does not constrain the proper exercise of administrative discretion in this area. Hence, contracting authorities (and Member States) will be clever not to put a noose around their own necks. In the end, the only thing the CJEU has done in Manova - Cartiera dell'Adda is to pull their legs...