Brussels, 15.2.2013 SWD(2013) 53 final COMMISSION STAFF ...

permitted by the Directives. In general, it is advisable for public authorities to draw uptender specifications with SMEs in mind, keeping formalities to a strict minimum.207. How to reconcile public procurement procedures which limit the number of providersselected with the preservation of a sufficient degree of freedom of choice for SSGIusers?Public procurement procedures do not aim to limit the number of service providersselected. Contracting authorities are entirely free to choose one or several operators tosatisfy their needs. Public authorities can, for example, entrust the same serviceconcession to several operators, if this is practically feasible, thereby guaranteeing alarger choice for users of the service.208. Is it possible to make familiarity with the local context a criterion for the selection of aservice provider, this aspect often being essential for the successful provision of anSSGI?EU public procurement rules aim to ensure fair competition between operators acrossEurope in order to provide better value for money to the public authorities. Arequirement of familiarity with the local context might lead to unlawful discriminationagainst foreign service providers. At the same time, it risks restricting the publicauthority’s choice to a small number of local operators and consequently diminishing thebeneficial effect of Europe-wide competition.Nevertheless, certain requirements related to the local context may be acceptable if theycan be justified by the particularities of the service to be provided (type of service and/orcategories of user) and are strictly related to the performance of the contract.Examples:• A public authority may, for instance, require as part of the performance criteriathat the successful tenderer establish a local infrastructure such as an office or aworkshop or deploy specific equipment at the place of performance, if this isnecessary for the provision of the service.• A municipal authority intending to set up a women’s shelter, intendedparticularly for women from a specific cultural minority, may specify in thecall for tenders that the service provider must have prior experience of this kindof service in an environment with similar social and economic characteristics,and that the employees who will be in contact with and/or address the needs ofthe women facing problems must be sufficiently familiar with the relevantcultural and linguistic context.• A public authority that intends to put in place a job placement service targetingyoung unemployed adults from disadvantaged areas and addressing in anintegrated way the specific difficulties encountered by the users (e.g. mentalhealth problems, drug addiction or alcohol abuse, social housing and debt)might specify that the service provider must have prior experience with thiskind of service for similar target groups. It may also indicate that the serviceprovider must ensure that from the outset the employees dealing with the usersof the service have a knowledge of the networks of social actors that alreadyexist, with whom they will need to liaise in order to address the needs of theyoung unemployed adults in an integrated way.In any event, a restriction of this kind must not go beyond what is strictly necessary toensure adequate service provision. The Court of Justice decided, for example, that whenawarding a public contract for health services providing home respiratory treatments a94