[CEUD-ICT] EU procurement: Reserved contracts

Mon Feb 9 10:52:33 GMT 2009

Thanks Martin,
for those of you who have not read previous postings on the subject of
procurement, the ICT Procurement Toolkit provides advise on incorporating
accessibility requirements into tenders for  ICT products or services
including the web, telecoms and hardware and software.[1] It is written in
non-technical language and assume no knowledge of accessibility on the part
of the procurer.  It aims, as far as possible, to provide criteria that can
be used to score responses and provides advise on assessing and evaluating
tenders.

Sorry for the sales pitch, but I think this Toolkit is very useful and
encourage everyone on the list to use it or to mention it to others
involved in procurement.

I plan to further promote the Toolkit in 2009.

Kind regards,
Dónal.

[1] http://www.universaldesign.ie/useandapply/ict/itprocurementtoolkit

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Hi; Was passed this by a colleague, which may be of interest.

Gives a list of some national responses and strategies - up to and
beyond 2009.

MM

-------------------------------------------
EU procurement: Reserved contracts

The European Community (European Union) Procurement Directive
2004/18/EC offers room for social considerations, by giving the member
states an option to reserve public contracts for handicapped persons.

We look at the relevant Directive provision and its explanation. Sweden
and Finland present different legislative solutions at national level.

We then broaden our outlook by a few examples of activities within
broader or related contexts: responsible purchasing, sustainable
procurement and socially responsible procurement.

***

Article 19

As an exception to ordinary award procedures public contracts can be
reserved for sheltered workshops and sheltered employment programmes
for handicapped persons. Article 19 of the Procurement Directive
2004/18/EC leaves this option to the member states.

This exemption has to fulfil objective criteria: Most of the employees
are handicapped persons, who, by reason of the nature or the
seriousness of their disabilities, cannot carry on occupations under
normal conditions.

Even if only sheltered workshops or employment programmes are eligible,
the rest of the Procurement Directive 2004/18/EC applies to the
contract award procedure. It has to be non-discriminatory and
transparent, including a reference to Article 19 in the contract
notice:

S e c t i o n 4
Special arrangement

Article 19
Reserved contracts

Member States may reserve the right to participate in public contract
award procedures to sheltered workshops or provide for such contracts
to be performed in the context of sheltered employment programmes where
most of the employees concerned are handicapped persons who, by reason
of the nature or the seriousness of their disabilities, cannot carry on
occupations under normal conditions.

The contract notice shall make reference to this provision.

***

Reasons for special arrangement

Recital 28 of the Procurement Directive presents the reasons for
creating the special arrangement, whereby contract notices can be
directed solely at sheltered workshops or employment programmes:

(28) Employment and occupation are key elements in guaranteeing equal
opportunities for all and contribute to integration in society. In this
context, sheltered workshops and sheltered employment programmes
contribute efficiently towards the integration or reintegration of
people with disabilities in the labour market. However, such workshops
might not be able to obtain contracts under normal conditions of
competition. Consequently, it is appropriate to provide that Member
States may reserve the right to participate in award procedures for
public contracts to such workshops or reserve performance of contracts
to the context of sheltered employment programmes.

***

National level examples

Sweden

National circumstances vary. In Sweden a number of organisations
consulted expressed misgivings about the effects of a provision on
reserved contracts, given existing arrangements for employment of
disabled persons.

This was discussed in the Government Bill (Regeringens proposition
2006/07:128 Ny lagstiftning om offentlig upphandling och upphandling
inom områdena vatten, energi, transporter och posttjänster, under 9.3
Reserverade kontrakt on page 185 to 187).
The Swedish Government decided not to include a provision on reserved
contracts in its proposal, with the following conclusions:

Utredningen föreslår att bestämmelserna om reserverade kontrakt
genomförs i den svenska lagstiftningen. Flera remissinstanser har
emellertid invänt att en bestämmelse om reserverade kontrakt kräver
ytterligare preciseringar bl.a. såvitt avser hur begreppen "skyddade
verkstäder" och "program för skyddad anställning" skall tolkas. Det har
även framförts att förslaget skulle kunna få ogynnsamma
marknadsstörande effekter.

Regeringen anser att utredningens förslag för närvarande inte bör
genomföras.

***

Finland

Finland has made use of the option to reserve the award of certain
public contracts to sheltered workshops or employment programmes.
Section 14 of the Act on Public Contracts (348/2007) is practically
identical to Article 19 of the Procurement Directive:

Section 14 - Reserving public contracts for sheltered workshops

Contracting authorities may reserve the right to participate in public
contract award procedures in favour of sheltered workshops or provide
for such contracts to be performed in the context of sheltered
employment programmes where most of the employees concerned are people
with disabilities who, by reason of the nature or the seriousness of
their disabilities, cannot carry on occupations under normal
conditions. The public contract notice must indicate that the contract
is reserved for sheltered workshops or programmes.

***

Responsible purchasing

A broader outlook is provided under the term responsible purchasing,
which includes issues such as professional standards for purchasing
staff, environmental considerations, ethical and social issues as well
as the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The Scottish Parliament has approved a Responsible purchasing strategy,
which may be of interest elsewhere in Europe:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/corporate/procurement/docs/Strategy-
FINAL.pdf

***

Sustainable procurement

Even if the Scottish Parliament preferred the term responsible
purchasing (rather than sustainable procurement) Local Governments for
Sustainability ICLEI campaign for sustainable procurement. You can find
information about their Procura+ campaign and other activities on:

http://www.iclei-europe.org/index.php?id=procurement

Socially responsible procurement (SRP)

The ICLEI Respiro project is aimed at socially responsible procurement.
You can access information here:

http://www.respiro-project.eu/index.php?id=conference

Martin Maguire

Connect.ie, 44 Westland Row, Dublin 2
Tel:+353-1-6763456 Fax:+353-1-6763555
Mob.+353-86-UCALLME (+353-86- 822-5563)
URL: http://www.connect.ie
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