As every person in the U.K. is aware, the country voted to leave the European Union following a referendum held in 2016, popularly known as “Brexit.” After a great deal of politically heated and often divisive negotiating, Britain managed to separate itself from the European Union on January 31, 2020, leaving many local businesses and individuals with the mistaken impression that they no longer have access to European Union government procurement contracts.
In this article, we will explain exactly how British companies and individuals can bid on European Union projects, what restrictions currently apply and what are some of the tools available for tracking bids.
EU procurement rules after Brexit
Some might say that the economic relations between the European Union and Britain (with some exceptions for Northern Ireland and the territory of Gibraltar) are currently governed by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, commonly referred to as the TCA.
At 1,246 pages in length, the TCA is a fully comprehensive document, but it does not cover European governmental acquisitions and in this article, we will focus exclusively on the provisions relating to EU procurement guidelines concerning eligibility for British bids.
Generally speaking, the U.K. now operates under the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), which specifically gives companies from non-EU nations (including the U.K.) access to bid on EU procurement contracts, however, there are some areas where British access is narrowed:
- Below threshold contracts (valued at less than €200,000)
- Defense and military contracts
- Some utility contracts
- Services concessions (private sector businesses operating at their own risk)
- Services covered by the “light touch” regime
- Anything not specifically covered by the TCA and WTO’S GPA
All of the above being true, the vast majority of projects and tenders offered by EU-based funders and donor agencies are still eligible for bids by companies and individuals from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In addition, the TCA states that British-based bidders have the same rights as EU bidders, including access to legal remedies.
In general, the biggest change related to Brexit is that British companies have lost guaranteed access to some procurement markets in the EU, but the eligibility to bid still remains. Furthermore, contracts which fall outside the scope of the TCA are no longer obliged to accept bids from British-based companies and individuals, but in practice, most still do.
Starting on January 1, 2021, the European Union’s laws on public procurement ceased to apply in Britain except in a few, very limited circumstances. In practice, this means that Britain could change its own domestic procurement guidelines, however, this has yet to occur, meaning that little has changed for British-based bidders.
Using DevelopmentAid’s Country Eligibility Tool
Being the largest database of tenders and grants in international development, www.developmentaid.org is fundamental for U.K. business operating in the aid sector. A DevelopmentAid membership comes with access to a lot of powerful services, one of which is known as the Country Eligibility tool. This is a simple and fast way to see if companies and individuals from your country are eligible to bid on a project from a given donor or funding agency.
To verify whether you can bid on a given tender or bid, simply choose “UK” from the country field and then select the funding agency that you would like to know more about before clicking the green “Verify” button.
The Country Eligibility tool will instantly tell you whether the funding or donor agency in question accepts bids from British companies and individuals. The vast majority of EU agencies, including the Council of Europe, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, and GIZ, all currently accept bids from British companies and individuals.
If you do find a funding agency or donor that accepts bids from British companies and individuals, simply click on “Procurement Guidelines” from the left-hand tab and input the name of the agency or donor, which will bring up all of the necessary documentation needed for how to put in a bid with that agency or donor.
Conclusion
Although Britain is no longer a member of the European Union, access to EU government procurement contracts has changed very little. The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) gives British bids the same legal rights as EU-based bids for most types of contracts, and nearly everything outside of military and defense contracts is still eligible for bids from British companies and individuals.
Generally speaking, British companies have only lost their guaranteed access to some types of EU procurement contracts but generally remain eligible to bid. And DevelopmentAid’s country eligibility tool makes it simple to quickly find whether or not a given agency or donor accepts British bids. Furthermore, British procurement laws are still harmonized with EU regulations, making it still relatively simple for British companies and individuals to bid on EU procurement contracts.
