Benchmarking European Public Procurement Practices: Purchasing of 'Fix-Line Telephone Services' and 'Paper for Printers'

Abstract

This paper represents one of the first attempts to benchmarking public procurement practices for the same product categories. Questionnaires from European procurement agencies provide several insights on procurement contest design and on participation and competition patterns of two important supply contracts: fix line telephone services and paper for printers. Data show that while in the former public procurement practices are rather similar, in the latter, they vary significantly across EU Countries, despite the standardized nature of products. Moreover, some cases of cross-border participation to tenders, suggest that players consider the European market as a single market.

Keywords: public procurement, international practices, benchmarking

JEL Classification: H57, D44, K40