On the Competition and Transparency in Public Procurement During COVID-19 Pandemic in European Union

Public procurement accounts in developed countries for about 20% of gross domestic product, thus is seen as a policy implementation tool. During COVD-19 outbreak, public procurement served as a basic tool for equipping institutions and citizens with medical supplies, ventilators, and personal protective equipment. We use data on public procurement in European countries during first wave of COVID-19 pandemic, with aim to study transparency and competition in public procurement process during ongoing state of emergency. Quantitative analysis of the data indicates, that less transparent procurement procedures were primary used during acute outbreak of COVID-19 and that the level of transparency widely varies among countries regardless the extent of the epidemic. Data suggests that the use of less transparent procurement procedures and reduced competition is more suitable for small and medium enterprises, where share of tenders submitted by small and medium enterprises represents up to 87% of all less transparent procedures.