An overview of innovative procurement in Eastern Europe

This chapter presents innovation procurement in the European Union with particular reference to the role of public procurers in providing new solutions through a demand-side approach using pre-commercial procurement (PCP) and public procurement of innovative solutions (PPI). In doing so, this chapter is divided into four parts. The first part looks at public expenditure in the EU and the role of innovation in public procurement in ensuring more effective public services to citizens and/or in achieving economies of scale and other important policy goals. Thereafter, this chapter analyses the increasing importance of a demand-driven approach to public procurement by using the main documents that support them at the EU level. It also provides a synthesis on the main distinctions between buying standard products and/or services and purchasing innovation (both in terms of product or process) through either PCP or PPI. A thorough analysis of the policy and legal framework on innovation procurement in the EU puts a particular attention to the most significant provisions under the 2014 EU public procurement directives on innovation procurement. The last two parts of this chapter discuss the results of a case study on the transposition of the 2014 EU public procurement directives in the national legal frameworks in certain Central Europe countries.