EU Regulations have three main principles:
- advertising of contracts throughout the European Union (EU) so that all firms in the member states have an opportunity to submit tenders;
- the equal treatment of all enquiries so as not to eliminate on the basis of the nationality of the supplier or the origin of the goods or services. This includes the banning of national technical specifications liable to discriminate against foreign tenderers;
- application of objective criteria in the tendering and award procedures so as to achieve a high degree of transparency.
EU Regulations require all contracts over the EU Thresholds to be advertised by the Council in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) link available on the right.
EU Thresholds
1st January 2012 to 31st December 2013
These thresholds relate to the aggregated contract values over the life of a contract.
Services and Supplies = £173,934
Works = £4,348,350