Legal framework procurement in The Netherlands

Public Procurement Act and Decree

Dutch public procurement law recognises the general principles of public procurement law (equal treatment, non-discrimination, mutual recognition, proportionality and transparency) and the general principles of Dutch civil law (including pre-contractual good faith).

The Public Procurement Act (in Dutch) applies to all public contracts.The Dutch Public Procurement Act is further detailed in the Public Procurement Decree (in Dutch).The Proportionality Guide (Gids Proportionaliteit), Works Procurement Regulations 2016 (Aanbestedingsreglement Werken 2016) and the European Single Procurement Document / ESPD (Uniform Europees Aanbestedingsdocument / UEA) are part of the Public Procurement Decree.

Proportionality Guide (Proportionaliteitsgids)

The Proportionality Guide intends to ensure that all requirements imposed by a contracting authority are proportionate to the object and scope of the public contract. The Public Procurement Decree states that the Proportionality Guide is to be considered as a mandatory directive.

The Proportionality Guide further elaborates on the principle of proportionality and how it should be applied in procurement procedures. Accordingly, the application of the Guide should strengthen the position of small and medium-sized enterprises during tender procedures. Contracting authorities may only deviate from the detailed provisions on proportionality if this is properly motivated in the tender documents.

Works Procurement Regulations 2016 (Aanbestedingsreglement Werken 2016)

The Works Procurement Regulations 2016 describe procedures to be used for procurement for the award of works contracts above and below the EU threshold. The Works Procurement Regulations 2016 is mandatory for contracts below the EU threshold.

Further details: Works Procurement Regulations 2016 (in Dutch)

European Single Procurement Document / ESPD (Uniform Europees Aanbestedingsdocument / UEA)

The European Single Procurement Document (ESPD) is a self-declaration form used in public procurement procedures by public buyers and businesses in the EU. The European Single Procurement Document has replaced the Dutch Self-Declaration document. With this document tenderers indicate that they comply with the tender requirements. Only the winner of the tender is required to provide the relevant evidence.

In a procedure contracting authorities can use the UEA (in Dutch) 

European procurement directives

The Dutch Public Procurement Act implements the latest EU procurement directives (2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU and 2014/25/EU):

• Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement at eur-lex.europa.eu
• Directive 2014/23/EU on the award of concession contracts at eur-lex.europa.eu
• Directive 2014/25/EU on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors at eur-lex.europa.eu

The latest directives have as one of the objectives to make it easier and cheaper for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to bid for public contracts. Furthermore the directives want to ensure the best value for money for public purchases and the respect of the EU's principles of transparency and competition. To encourage progress towards particular public policy objectives, the latest directives also allow for environmental and social considerations, as well as innovation aspects to be taken into account when awarding public contracts.

General Government Terms and Conditions

Nationwide general purchase conditions are prepared; ARVODI-2018, ARIV-2018 en ARBIT-2022.