Presentation made for an online webinar on 28 October 2014 https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/community/open_standards_ict/event/public-procurement-ict-products-europe-still-affected-reference-b

1. Discriminatory
practices in public
procurement of ICT
Putting figures on the map

2. Discrimination in
public procurement of
IT leads to...
Vendor lock-in ;
Higher expenses ;
Loss in control and flexibility ;
Market distortions.

3. How do you
measure
discrimination?

4. CC BY-SA 3.0 Gothika

5. Our shadows on the
wall of the cave :
brand name references

6. What the law says
“ Unless justified by the subject-matter of the contract, technical specifications shall
not refer to a specific make or source, or a particular process which characterises the
products or services provided by a specific economic operator, or to trade marks, patents,
types or a specific origin or production with the effect of favouring or eliminating certain
undertakings or certain products. Such reference shall be permitted on an exceptional
basis, where a sufficiently precise and intelligible description of the subject-matter of the
contract pursuant to paragraph 3 is not possible. Such reference shall be accompanied by
the words ‘or equivalent’.
Directive 2014/24/EU (and before that Directive 2004/18/EC) :

7. Our methodology
Extracts of tender notices posted on TED ;
“Software package and information systems” ;
3 months period ;
Usually around 600-900 tender notices ;
Full methodology & detailed results
available upon request.
here

8. Findings

9. Taking a closer look

10. What brands?

11. Which countries?
Proportion of tender notices with a discriminatory impact, by countries, in percentage

12. CC BY SA 3.0 Uwe Kils

13. A few
recommendations
Don't use brand name references (obviously),
but don't limit yourself to removing them !
Prefer using Open Standards ;
Education, education, education ;
Look at and learn from what is happening in
.other administrations

14. mael@openforumeurope.org
https://slides.com/maelig
Link to Procurement Reports