These amendments will enable purchasers and suppliers to use computerised resources for all public procurement procedures and so derive maximum benefit from electronic commerce. The Commission has done its utmost to simplify these rules - the Council and the European Parliament should do as much. The legislative package adopted today has two objectives. The first is to simplify and clarify the existing Community Directives, and the second is to adapt them to modern administrative needs in an economic environment that is changing as a result of things such as liberalisation of telecommunications or the transition to the new economy. With the object of enhancing transparency in the award process and of combating corruption and organised crime, the legislative package also includes measures designed to make for greater clarity in the criteria determining the award of the contract and the selection of tenderers.
Simplification is an essential feature of the legislative package.
The aim is to make the Directives easier to understand for everybody who is involved in public procurement, either as a buyer or as a supplier. The new structure and the new provisions are designed to guide users through all the stages of the award procedure. The thresholds which determine the application of the new instruments are also to be simplified and will be expressed in euros instead of special drawing rights. The new proposals accordingly relax some of the provisions which were considered too inflexible to achieve the objective of best value for money. Modernisation also means adjusting procedures to an economic environment that is changing.