Practical Examples of Joint Procurement Best Practices in Europe

Mari Ann Simovart - University of Tartu PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF JOINT PROCUREMENT BEST PRACTICES Jozef Kubinec - Ministry of Interior of Slovak republic

THE ONLINE SURVEY In 2020, the iProcureNet project conducted an online survey among European public procurers. The aim of the survey was to learn more about existing joint cross-border public procurement (JCBPP) initiatives throughout Europe 2 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

FEEDBACK RECEIVED An overall of 41 responses from 14 countries (Germany, Ireland, Romania, Turkey, Estonia, France, Switzerland, the US, Portugal, Italy, Finland, Greece, Slovakia, and one unspecified) was obtained. 3 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

RESULTS What we found out? 4 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

LACK OF EXPERIENCE BUT POSITIVE ATTITUDE Around 75% of the respondents had a positive attitude towards JCBPP 25% had experienced 50% were interested or even planned to engage in JCBPP 5 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

FEW JCBPP EXAMPLES FROM THE SECURITY SECTOR From ten, three had experience in the field of security and defence 6 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

PCP VS. PPI? PCP vs. PPI? 7 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

PCP VS. PPI? PCP is exempt from the application of the Directive 2014/24/EU, subject to the TFEU principles and derived principles (e.g. discrimination, equal treatment) but it remains transparency, non- PPI is subject of EU directives and the national law implementing those 8 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

GOOD PRACTICES Good practices? 9 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

GOOD PRACTICE Building motivated and available teams in early stages of the project is key to success. For example, in the PPI4HPC project, it was decided, even before the start of the project, to establish two working groups, one dealing with technical issues, one with legal issues. Key stakeholders should be identified and support from senior management ensured You will made mistakes and you need someone to turn to for support JCBPP is a new thing and you need support 10 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

GOOD PRACTICE Procurement should be organized using project-based management. Dividing all actions into phases with deadlines and responsible persons and rules for information flow and decision-making (ex. vaccines in Estonia) Functional specifications should be preferred over technical specifications because they focus on long-term needs. This was mentioned when referring specifically to PCP, but it can be applied also to the public procurement tenders in case the contracting authority wants to promote innovation. 11 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

GOOD PRACTICE The need to harmonize procurement practices For example, it can be a good idea to start by harmonizing procurement plans. Tender Preparation Phase Prepare an in-depth needs assessment and an open market consultation activity during the tender preparation phase. Tender Process Nominate a lead procurer that already has longstanding relationships with all members of the buyers group proved a successful approach in CERN project - HNSciCloud. 12 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

GOOD PRACTICE How to organize preliminary market consultation? 13 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

GOOD PRACTICE Physical and online meetings, Questionnaires, Presentations and testing of samples allowing end-users to verify the suitability of the proposed solutions in real-life conditions, Less conventional methods, such as competitions, hackathons, idea markets 14 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

GOOD PRACTICE What not to forget when conducting preliminary market consultation? 15 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

GOOD PRACTICE process must comply with the principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination and transparency stated in the Directive 2014/24/EU 16 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

GOOD PRACTICE Preliminary market consultation has several benefits such as: for technical aspects: Help in reviewing technical requirements; Improvement of definition and clarification of unclear requirements; for legal and procedure aspects: Conflict of laws during the procurement procedure; Subcontracting; Clarification on the application form (PPI4HPC white paper "Lessons learned on legal aspects ) 17 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

LEGAL ASPECTS OF JCBPP WHAT ABOUT LEGAL SIDE OF JCBPP? 18 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

LEGAL ASPECTS OF JCBPP Due to varying rules of public offices of different Member divergence of social approaches, JCBPP may necessitate compromises between legal regimes. States and political the and TIP: Presume nothing 19 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

SECURITY VS CLASSICAL? Choice of the Directive Classical Directive 2014/24/EU Defence and Security Directive 2009/81/EC 20 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

COLLABORATION AGREEMENT Collaboration agreement? 21 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

COLLABORATION AGREEMENT COLLABORATION AGREEMENT = WHO DOES WHAT WHEN AND HOW? defining the responsibilities and requirements of the collaborators in enough detail is one of the most time- consuming elements of the beginning of a collaboration ... but it is crucial and necessary. 22 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

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COLLABORATION AGREEMENT COLLABORATION AGREEMENT project management and liabilities of parties: the role of the lead purchaser, drafting and approving contract documents, decision making & information sharing, arranging call-offs under a framework agreement, collection of data and reporting duties etc. nb! the solutions can vary. E.g., delegate an extensive part of the preparation work to a lead buyer vs active participatio in JCBPP by all 24 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

COLLABORATION AGREEMENT ... COLLABORATION AGREEMENT: responsibilities of collaborators in respect of contract performance, e.g. deliveries. financial rules for contracting, e.g.: Terms of payment to contractors Mind the national law requirements! Actual payment and management of invoices, Sharing of administrative costs etc.; Liabilities of collaborators in review or contractual disputes, e.g.: issues of representation, mutual assistance etc. 25 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

COLLABORATION AGREEMENT COLLABORATION AGREEMENT: Applicable law and competent jurisdiction: for disputes among the collaborators; for the award procedure(s), incl. award(s) of a framework agreement For contracts later Common language of the cooperation; Project management plan ... 26 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

WHICH NATIONAL LAW APPLIES? WHICH NATIONAL LAW APPLIES? 27 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

WHICH NATIONAL LAW APPLIES? NATIONAL LAW APPLICABLE TO ... collaboration? review of JCBPP? Where is the competent review body over the procurement procedure? review/dispute resolution of the public contract? procurement procedure 28 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

WHICH NATIONAL LAW APPLIES? Differentiate! CPB subjects centralized purchasing and some related activities to the law of the Member State where the central purchasing body (CPB) is located - Art 39 (3) Collaboration agreement obliges the contracting authorities to enter into an agreement on the relevant applicable national provisions - Art 39 (4) (a) 29 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

DIFFICULTIES THAT HAD TO BE OVERCOME Difficulties that had to be overcome? 30 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

DIFFICULTIES THAT HAD TO BE OVERCOME Different language and culture. A common language should be agreed upon in the beginning of the cooperation. In most cases, English is the first language (procurement of vaccines in Estonia) Different processes. There can be differences in procurement practices in the beginning of the cooperation. Therefore, it is good idea to start by identifying different practices and harmonizing them. 31 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

DIFFICULTIES THAT HAD TO BE OVERCOME The coordination among public procurers from different countries can prove to be difficult. Organize frequent (weekly) telco Agreeing on the assessment process and decision. the evaluation part of the tender can present difficulties, especially in the case of prescribing the subject of the tender using functional specifications, In the case of the FABULOS project, this issue was approached by setting up an External Evaluation 32 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

BENEFITS OF JCBPP Is it even worth it? 33 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

BENEFITS OF JOINT CROSS-BORDER PUBLIC PROCUREMENT The following main benefits of JCBPP have been chosen by the respondents from multiple-choice questions: economies of scale; possibility to negotiate better contract conditions; promotion of innovation and R&D; collaboration, sharing knowledge and exchanging good practice - professionalization standardization of technical specifications. 34 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

BENEFITS OF JOINT CROSS-BORDER PUBLIC PROCUREMENT JCBPP can be the solution to some of the problems specific to the health sector but also security high level of confidentiality in the health sector. different kinds of agreements for confidentiality are typical here. in the case of joint procurement for vaccines in Estonia, JCBPP had the effect of revealing prices and opening up the market. 35 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

TIPS? 36 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

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NEXT STEPS Next steps? Please share with us your experience with JCBPP 38 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

YOU CAN FIND MORE Link to the analysis of the survey: https://www.iprocurenet.eu/wp- content/uploads/iProcureNet_JCBPP- survey_Feb21.pdf 39 21/03/2025 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices

THANK YOU! This project has received funding from the European Union s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 32875. 21/03/2025 40 Practical examples of joint procurement - best practices