restrictive+practices

=Purchasing Impediments and Restrictive Practices (trade barriers)= Public (Government) and Private (Commercial) sectors sometimes use the purchasing & procurement process to inadvertently engage in restrictive trade practices. Examples include subsidies, dumping, countervailing measures (SCMs), inadequate competition and discriminatory source/origin requirements for vendor eligibility. Other impediments may occur as a result of restricted competitive practices during commercial selection process.

Definitions
“Procurement Impediment” is any unnecessary or unauthorized process or requirement that complicates, delays or impairs the purchasing & procurement process. Examples include fraud, waste and abuse in source selection, restrictions on product source/origin and subsidies that artificially lower product prices. "obstacle to trade" (i.e. trade barriers) by EU definition refers to any trade practice prohibited by international trade rules which injures (material injury involving money) a party affected by that practice giving them a right to seek elimination of the effect of the practice in question. These international trade rules are essentially those of the WTO and also those set out in bilateral agreements with third countries to which the EU is a party.

Problems
• Improper Proposal Evaluation resulting from poor oversight and disparate evaluation criterion • Non-Standard Product Specifications with varying acceptance criterion • Restricted or Unfair Competition or Sole Source resulting from government source/origin restrictions that favour local vendors or further political agendas • Inadequate Preparation and Licensing Documentation for Shipment may require the expertise of an intermediary service specialist such as the freight forwarder or exporter • Import/export trade licenses that take too long to obtain, are too costly or are issued unfairly

Some solutions
Improper bid evaluation can be avoided by additional staff training and increased oversight. Vendor participants are the most incentivized parties to any evaluation. Transparency in the evaluation process and full practical disclosure of evaluation results to all interested parties can prove the most effective inducement to a timely and impartial bid evaluation. Consider and promote the use of existing standards before creating tailor-made specifications. The existing standards, and especially the imminent convergence of UBL and c-Catalogue, are expected to facilitate the exact specifications upon which e-Catalogues are used in public procurement. Harmonise the use of product description and classifications schemes, establishing also specifications for describing products/services within e-Catalogues. This harmonization can be achieved either by establishing one, unique product description and classification scheme, or by establishing a framework of interoperable co-existence of many schemes. Deficient documentation is a major reason why both customers and vendors use intermediary service providers to handle cross-border shipments. The “3 and 4 corner processes” are examples of this third party contractual relationship in prompt payment and invoicing. Import or export licences authorise the import or export of products which are subject to quotas. Oversight and processing incentives can expedite delivery of licensed products. Licenses are issued immediately by EU countries when the "first come, first served" principle is used. In other cases, they are issued within ten days of notification of the EU decision indicating the quantities to be distributed.

Links & References
COMPETITION ASSESSMENT GUIDANCE COMPETITION ASSESSMENT TOOLKIT, VERSION 2.0 © OECD 51

UNECE Recommendations on regulatory cooperation and standardization policies http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trade/wp6/Recommendations/Rec_L.pdf

UNECE Creation of International Agreements on Conformity Assessment in Technical Specifications http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trade/wp6/Recommendations/Rec_F.pdf

The OECD website on Technical Barriers to Trade provides access to several recent as well as archived studies on the effects of procurement impediments & non-standardized technical specifications http://www.oecd.org/document/62/0,3746,en_2649_37431_1842622_1_1_1_37431,00.html