European Directive for tendering architectural services; a too strict interpretation by Dutch Local Authorities?

When the value of services exceeds €206.000, local governmental bodies in European Union (EU) countries have to call for tenders in accordance with the EU directive 2004/18/EC, which specifies procedures for such contracts. Recently, well known Dutch architecture firms expressed their dissatisfaction with the way local authorities in The Netherlands manage such European tenders. The firms claim that local authorities are too strict in their interpretation of the directive. According to them, the requirements regarding economic and financial standing and technical and professional ability (articles 47 and 48 of the directive) are set too high. The emphasis lays more on a high financial turnover than on quality. The architects also claim that the procedures to prove eligibility are too extensive. The result is that start-up and smaller firms are excluded because they cannot meet the requirements. The Chief Government Architect of The Netherlands recently commissioned independent research on this matter. This paper presents the results from the first stage of the research, which was based on data from the website ted.europa.eu, where tenders are officially published. Tender