Maltese economic operators’ share in the EU cross-border public procurement market

Abstract

In the Single Market Act, public procurement has been recognised as a significant instrument in ensuring growth and competitiveness across the common market. In this regard, the Public Procurement Directives were reformed in 2014 to facilitate competition in the EU cross-border public procurement market by introducing flexible, transparent and efficient measures. Despite these efforts, studies record an overall low share of cross-border public procurement contracts and indicate disparities between countries penetration in the EU cross-border market. However, up to this date, studies were not carried out in the context of the 2014 Public Procurement Directives to explore which factors affect businesses participation in cross-border public procurement.

In order to identify Malta’s share in the EU cross-border public procurement market and to explore key factors influencing economic operators’ penetration in such market, the study analysed contract award notices over the period of 2006-2018 and carried out interviews with stakeholders and economic operators. The statistical analysis highlight Malta’s insignificant share in the EU cross-border public procurement. Furthermore, the results from the thematic analysis indicate that the Public Procurement Directives, the contract characteristics, the availability of financial and human resources as well as the different business characteristics influence the propensity of Maltese economic operators to penetrate the EU cross-border public procurement market. The findings imply that cross-border public procurement is still an area where substantial improvement is necessary both at national and supranational level.