Bosses want overhaul of ‘costly’ EU supply rules
Author: Dominic Browne, The MJ |
Council chiefs and business leaders have teamed up to lobby the Government and the European Union (EU) to reform European procurement rules, The MJ can reveal.
The Local Government Association (LGA) has branded the EU’s procurement rules ‘tortuous, convoluted and costly’, and called for a ‘significant increase in the ludicrously-low 170,000 procurement threshold’ ? above which local government has to open up contract bids to the entire EU.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has since backed the LGA campaign, telling The MJ this week that EU procurement Directives ‘need to be reformed to help deliver quicker, cheaper and more effective procurement processes’.
Dr Neil Bentley, CBI deputy director-general, said: ‘It’s unacceptable that the UK has among the slowest and most expensive procurement processes in the EU. The resulting cost to businesses and taxpayers is huge.’
Dr Bentley warned that ‘looking at the procurement value threshold is part of the solution’, but added that adjusting the threshold would be a long-term goal because it would need to be signed off by the World Trade Organisation.
The LGA welcomed the CBI’s backing and revealed it would host a procurement roundtable later this year, with business leaders and public sector stakeholders, ‘to explore how we can jointly use our influence to pressure for change’.
‘We’re keen to work with the CBI, central government and other stakeholders to build pressure. It’s clear we share many of the same concerns,’ an LGA spokesman said.
Liam Scott-Smith, head of external affairs at the New Local Government Network, said: ‘It is very important that local government presents a united voice. The whole local government family, both private and public sectors, need to work together to present a clear message to central government so it can put forward the argument to the EU.’