Over 100 professors, academics, researchers and experts in Public procurement, business and public management are calling to the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) in the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO) negotiating the European Parliament report on the proposal for the revision of the public procurement Directive that is being currently discussed, not to introduce more administrative burden on local and regional governments and to promote more insourcing and inhouse provision when municipalities see fit.

More than 100 professors and academics from over 18 countries and over 50 different universities and institutes are calling the legislators to ensure that inhouse provision is uphold by the current parliament. Some MEPs with a far-right background have been promoting a dangerous element of what is usually called ‘competitive compulsive tendering’ echoing old proposals by the British Thatcherite right.

The proposed amendment 13c would further go against the proposals voted by the EMPL committee a few weeks ago, see here. This amendment (13c) to the IMCO report goes against academic evidence about in-house provision and insourcing in public services. According to the European Water Movement, the proposal would undermine the democratic right of elected municipalities throughout Europe to decide on the form of public service provision they want for the people, a right embedded in article 345 of the EU treaty. It would introduce a system of compulsory competitive tendering. Also, it would increase the load for procurers and would against the simplification objective of the proposed revision.

The current wording of article 13c would create an extra burden on local and regional governments that will have to proof of why they are not putting into the market services that are provided by the local and regional authorities and also it will not simplify the internal procedures of a sector that is already under a lot of strain.

This system was abandoned even in the UK 30 years ago, and multiple studies (here, here, here, here and here) have shown that concessions and outsourced contracts provide no efficiency gains, but rather act as a drain on public finances by the extraction of profits, impose inflexible barriers to policy innovations, undermine service quality, erode public employment and capacity, and create incentives for corruption and cartels. There is now a well-established trend across Europe to remunicipalise such contracts, making savings for public finance and improving services.

Further information and list of signatories: https://www.epsu.org/article/100-academics-urge-meps-protect-house-provision-public-procurement

The European Water Movement has set up a form so that more people from the academic world can add their support before the parliamentary vote: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc170SLHBwx_oOBmEKzojuGhBXPgLDwhYPtCrH-uBV5RydipQ/closedform