The framework for public procurement and concession by the EU institutions

Public procurements and concessions by EU institutions are not regulated by the 2014 Public Procurement Directives (Directive 2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU). Indeed, Directives are not legally binding upon EU institutions. The framework for procurements and concessions by the EU institutions is currently established by Title VII and Annex I of the Regulation 2018/1046 (EU Financial Regulation). In the present report, we will examine the rules of the EU Financial Regulation affecting social and labour rights. In particular, we will point out the cases in which the latter derogates from social clauses included in the 2014 Directives198. Before starting our analysis, it is worth mentioning that procurements and concessions by EU institutions are hardly covered by the literature and by the studies on public contracts199. In the most recent collection of good practices, for example, only one case comes from the European Commission (2020, p. 35). Besides, the Commission’s Guidance Notice on socially responsible public procurement (European Commission 2021a) refers only to the 2014 Directives, and consequently ignores tenders launched by EU institutions.