Links I Liked [Public Procurement]

1. European Commission publishes final version of its much awaited Notice on the notion of State aid as referred to in Article 107(1) TFEU. Albert's comments are here.

2. UK Government consults on changes to how councils publish procurement data. Consultation is available here.

3. Doubts over Thames garden bridge as Sadiq Khan probes £175m project. Great writeup. This is a textbook example of legalising the folly of pre-procurement contacts between economic operators and contracting authorities. Only the best connected will benefit from this approach which is in effect not distinguishable from lobbying.

4. Judge forces Spain to change its tender specifications for the new high speed rail rolling stock (Spanish only). And rightly so as the original version of the awarding criteria reserved marks for local train building. For the UK Government to take into consideration next time a tender for rolling stock is put out and that other countries are not playing by EU rules.

5. Uncovering Corruption Is a Risky Endeavor in Spain. Very hard to read and in line with my experience in the country (but that may be availability bias on my part).