Abstract
Although it is widely recognized that public procurement may act as a “pull” mechanism for development and employment, serious concerns are constantly voiced as to the friendliness of public procurement processes towards small and medium enterprises (SMEs), arguably the most vital sector of the EU economy. In this paper, we will have a look at the concrete measures taken at the EU level to promote an increasing inclusion of SMEs in public procurement markets. We will then focus on the Italian experience and dwell on the results achieved since the creation of Consip S.p.A., the National Central Purchasing Body. In particular, data on transactions below the EU thresholds from the e-Marketplace managed by Consip will allow us to shed some light on the patterns of trade between public buyers and the different subgroups of firms in the class of SMEs.References
Albano, G. L., F. Antellini Russo, G. Castaldi And R. Zampino, (2013), “Evaluating Small Businesses’ Performance on the Italian Government’s E-Marketplace.” An earlier draft circulated under the title “Small but not too much! Evaluating Small and Medium
Enterprises’ Performance on the Italian Government’s E-Marketplace,” (2012).
Albano, G. L. And R. Zampino, (2013), “Strengthening the Level of Integrity of Public Procurement at the Execution Phase: Evidence from the Italian National Frame Contracts”.
In G. Piga and S. Treumer (Ed.), The Applied Law and Economics of Public Procurement. Routledge, London and New York, pp. 185-200.
European Commission (2007): “Evaluation of SMEs’ Access to Public Procurement Markets in the EU”. GHK and Technopolis Final Report coordinated by DG Enterprise and
Industry of the European Commission, September 2007.
European Commission (2008): “Think Small First: A Small Business Act for Europe”.
European Commission (2010): “Evaluation of SMEs’ Access to Public Procurement Markets in the EU”. GHK Final Report coordinated by DG Enterprise and Industry of the
European Commission, September 2010.
Eurostat (2011): “Key Figures on European Business with a Special Focus Feature on SMEs”.
Williams, R., (2006), “Generalized Ordered Logit/Partial Proportional Odds Models for Ordinal Dependent Variables”. The Stata Journal, 6 (1), pp. 58-82.
Enterprises’ Performance on the Italian Government’s E-Marketplace,” (2012).
Albano, G. L. And R. Zampino, (2013), “Strengthening the Level of Integrity of Public Procurement at the Execution Phase: Evidence from the Italian National Frame Contracts”.
In G. Piga and S. Treumer (Ed.), The Applied Law and Economics of Public Procurement. Routledge, London and New York, pp. 185-200.
European Commission (2007): “Evaluation of SMEs’ Access to Public Procurement Markets in the EU”. GHK and Technopolis Final Report coordinated by DG Enterprise and
Industry of the European Commission, September 2007.
European Commission (2008): “Think Small First: A Small Business Act for Europe”.
European Commission (2010): “Evaluation of SMEs’ Access to Public Procurement Markets in the EU”. GHK Final Report coordinated by DG Enterprise and Industry of the
European Commission, September 2010.
Eurostat (2011): “Key Figures on European Business with a Special Focus Feature on SMEs”.
Williams, R., (2006), “Generalized Ordered Logit/Partial Proportional Odds Models for Ordinal Dependent Variables”. The Stata Journal, 6 (1), pp. 58-82.
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