Participation

The network is open to all EU/EEA Member States, accessing countries, candidate countries, other European countries and the Commission.

Chairmanship

The annual chairmanship of the network is rotating between the participating countries on a voluntary basis. The chairman is responsible for establishing the agenda for the annual conference.

The current chair country is assisted by the former and the upcoming chairs in preparation of the next conference and related pre-meetings.

Each chairmanship lasts over the period for the preparation and chairing of one PPN plenary meeting or conference.

Typically each chairmanship runs over the whole year between two conferences.

Meetings

The 2007 "ad-hoc" meeting was held by the Portuguese government in Lisboa on 12th and 13th November

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The 2007 meeting was held by the Polish government in Warsaw on 26th and 27th April

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The 2006 meeting was held by the French government in Paris on 16th and 17th March.

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The 2005 meeting was held by the Slovenian government on the 17th and 18th March.
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PPN conferences are held once a year with a duration of 1 ½ to 2 days. The chairmanship arranges the conference and issues invitations giving notice of at least two months.

The tentative agenda for each meeting would normally contain at least the following points :

  • approval of the minutes of the last meeting ;
  • adoption of the agenda ;
  • a report on the past year's cross-border cases ;
  • discussion of selected issues, relevant to the application of the public procurement law ;
  • forthcoming chairmanship and the next conference.

The final agenda should be sent to all participants three weeks ahead of the conference.

Executive bureau

The former Steering Committee of the PPN has now turned into the " Executive Bureau " and includes :

  • one representative of the host country (i.e. the country who holds the annual meeting) ;
  • one representative of the previous host country ;
  • one representative of the next host country ;
  • one representative of the European Commission invited as an observer.

These are the permanent members but any other country of the PPN can be added if it has an express interest in being involved in the Bureau's activities. Any PPN country may also be invited to participate in the current work of the Executive Bureau in relation to a specific or pertinent issue.

The chairmanship of the Executive Bureau is rotating; the bureau is managed by its members and structured as stated above. As for the PPN network itself, it is a permanent informal body of the representatives of three national procurement authorities. The PPN network is thus managed with minimum bureaucracy and has no permanent administration.

The Executive Bureau is the permanent and voluntary organ of PPN whose function focuses on :

  • organisation of the annual conference ;
  • cooperation and coordination between participating countries ;
  • communication through the PPN network ;
  • best practice exchanges within the PPN network ;
  • maintenance and updating of the PPN website.

Members of the PPN have agreed a simple set of guidelines on the cooperation process. The environment is practical and efficient, cheap, informal and avoids time wasting and red tape. The networks functions with the least possible bureaucracy.

Dialogue between members does not only take place during the annual conferences, but also over the phone, the Internet or in small working groups on special issues.

Working groups

With a view to preparing the agenda for a plenary meeting, working groups may be set up ad hoc on specific relevant topics.

Interaction with the advisory committee on public contracts (ACPC)

It falls within the scope of the Public Procurement Network to make a contribution to improving the application of procurement law.

In this respect the network focuses on issues that are not covered by the work of the Advisory Committee on Public Contracts or other relevant formal committees. It is of great importance that the network does not duplicate any work or efforts made by other committees.

Information about the activities within the PPN is transmitted by the chairman to the ACPC in order to coordinate the efforts and avoid any overlap.