From 1998 to 2003 : the Pilot Project on Public Procurement (PPPP)

During the period 1998-2003, a Pilot Project on Public Procurement (PPPP) was carried out between a number of EU Member States and EEA countries. The overall objective of the project was to contribute to the achievement of a genuine EU wide procurement market through more efficient application and enforcement of the rules. The project was set up to deal with four important subjects :

  • pre-contract solutions to cross border problems ;
  • analysis of the formal complaint systems ;
  • application and interpretation of the regulations ;
  • monitoring of specific sectors, and Collection of economic data.

Denmark, Germany, UK, Spain, Italy and Netherlands formed the Steering Group for the project. Nine more countries (Norway, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Austria, Ireland, Finland, Sweden and Portugal) later joined the project. The Commission was represented as an observer.

The project was concluded during the summer of 2002 and the results were presented to the European Commission. The final documents on the project consist of reports on :

During the final meeting, the Steering Group outlined the way forward and recommended the creation of a more permanent informal network between the national procurement authorities. The network was to be opened to all Member States and to other European countries

From 2003 onwards : the Public Procurement Network

In 2003, the PPPP changed into the PPN (Public Procurement Network) and grew wider. Denmark held a meeting in Copenhagen on 31st January 2003 where all EU member states were invited, together with EEA countries and Switzerland, the Commission being still an observer. The countries that did not previously belong to the PPPP agreed to become members of the newborn network and the PPN was officially established.