Taking stock of utilities procurement.

The background to this research is that in 1993 the Public Procurement Directives were extended to apply to public supply contracts, public works contracts and to certain “excluded sectors” (i.e. sectors excluded under the earlier Directives), namely water, energy, transport and telecommunications in relation to public bodies or bodies operating under special and exclusive rights. Directive 98/4/EEC amended the Utilities Directive to bring it into line with the World Trade Organisation’s Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) and subsequently the Utilities Procurement Directive (Directive 2004/17/EC) was introduced. Our research focuses on the utility sectors and Directive 2004/17/EC (here on referred to in this document as “the Directive”). It seeks to establish: (a) The value of public procurement in each utility sector in each EU Member State above and below the thresholds set in the Directive; (b) The extent to which the rationale for the Directive continues to hold.