ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Virtually all contacts awarded in European Community member states by public bodies or by organizations (public or private) which undertake their functions will be covered by an EC legal framework by 1993. This regime of Public Procurement Directives originated in the 1970s but has been substantially revised and extended as part of the programme for the Single European Market. Purchasing of goods and services by public bodies constitutes a substantial potential market. Public purchasing in the EC in 1986 was estimated to total 530 billion ECU, equivalent to 15 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product of the Community (Cecchini 1988). The largest markets in individual countries are in Germany and France where the total value of procurement by local government alone in each case nears £20bn, as shown in Table 9.1.
