The Government’s policy is to achieve value for money (vfm) in all their purchasing decisions. EU Procurement Directives provide the legal framework for public procurement. They set out the procedures which must be followed before awarding a contract when its value exceeds set thresholds. The EU rules reflect and reinforce the value for money focus of the Government’s procurement policy.
Where a tender process is not subject to the Directives (e.g. below threshold), EU Treaty-based principles of non-discrimination, equal treatment, transparency, mutual recognition and proportionality apply and some degree of advertising, appropriate to the scale of the contract, is likely to be necessary to demonstrate transparency.