Discusses the legal requirements for selling to the host government, including whether the government has agreed to abide by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement or is a party to a government procurement chapter in a U.S. FTA. Specifies areas where there are opportunities.

Local representation is a de facto requirement to sell to the Dutch Government.

Three EU directives currently regulate the public procurement market.  Two of these apply to the general and utilities sectors, and one applies to concession contracts:   

  • Directive 2004/18 on Coordination of Procedures for the Award of Public Works, Services/and Supplies Contracts
  • Directive 2004/17 on Coordination of Procedures of Entities Operating in the Utilities Sector, which covers water, energy, transport, and postal services
  • Directive 2009/81 on Coordination of Procedures for the Award of Certain Works, Supply and Service Contracts by contracting authorities in the fields of defense and security.


Remedy directives cover legal means for companies who face discriminatory public procurement practices.

Many governments finance public works projects through borrowing from the multilateral development banks.  Please refer to “Project Financing” Section in “Trade and Project Financing” for more information.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
The United States and the European Union are signatories to the World Trade Organization’s (WTO’s) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA).  The GPA grants access to most public supplies, public services, and some work contracts published by national procurement authorities of countries that are parties to the GPA. In practice, this means that U.S.-based companies are eligible to bid on supplies and services contracts from European public contracting authorities above the agreed thresholds.

The EU Utilities Directive and EU coverage of the GPA both present some restrictions for U.S. suppliers.  Pursuant to the Utilities Directive, contracting authorities can: 1) reject non-EU bids where more than 50 percent of the total value of goods constituting the tender originates in non-EU countries; or 2) apply a three percent markup to non-EU bids to give preference to the EU bid.  These restrictions are applied when EU companies feel that they do not have reciprocal access to the U.S. market.  Those restrictions, however, do not apply to the electricity sector.

For more information, please visit the U.S. Commercial Service at the U.S. Mission to the European Union website dedicated to EU public procurement.
 

Prepared by our U.S. Embassies abroad. With its network of 108 offices across the United States and in more than 75 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. Locate the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialist in the U.S. nearest you by visiting http://export.gov/usoffices.