Public authorities as competitors
EBSA’s members represent a diverse range of business services that are provided to both public and private clients. In their daily operations providers of business services experience unfair competition from public bodies. This competition takes several forms and creates distortions when private companies compete for public contracts and when public bodies decide to provide services, which could have been more efficiently provided by private businesses.
EBSA strongly believes that the expertise and innovation of private sector firms ensure the delivery of quality, on-time services to public clients. When public bodies outsource to professional service providers, the European taxpayers benefit from higher quality services at a lower price. EBSA’s members experience four main challenges when it comes to competition from public bodies: In-house public procurement rules, VAT distortions, exemptions from bankruptcy and insolvency laws, and unclear price determination. In our position paper accessible below, we give recommendations to how these challenges can be addressed. EBSA is convinced that addressing these challenges would have a positive impact on the effectiveness of the public sector, growth and job creation in the EU.