How EU Public Contract Winners Are Selected

Dr Pedro Telles of Swansea University and expert in public procurement law has recently reviewed a study conducted by DataLab looking into how public contract winners in the EU are chosen. The study uses data from 2016 onwards. He discovers that a high proportion (66.5%) is awarded to the lowest-cost provider, and he explains why that figure does not surprise him. He also explains how DataLab sees the case for the lowest price preference, namely pertaining to EU funding, member state institutional differences and lack of procurement practitioner expertise. Read his commentary here.