Competitive Neutrality in Public Procurement and Competition Policy : An Ongoing Challenge Analised in View of the Proposed New Directive

The relevance of effective competition in the public procurement setting can hardly be overstated, particularly in terms of value for money and system efficiency. However, the assessment of competition impacts (or distortions) derived from procurement still does not always rank on top of public buyers' priorities and concerns. Hence, advancing techniques and developing regulatory instruments for more competitively neutral tender design and procurement regulation reform deserves academic and policy-making attention.This paper focuses on pro-competitive developments of EU public procurement law, particularly as a result of the 2011 EU Commission's consultation on the modernisation of EU public procurement policy and the ensuing proposal for a revised and updated version of the (growing) family of EU public procurement Directives. In the conclusions, the paper critically appraises the main aspects of the proposed reform of EU procurement rules aimed at guaranteeing increased competitive neutrality