Switzerland’s Public Procurement system

SWITZERLAND:

Switzerland a landlocked country positioned in Western Europe and all its four sides are bordered with Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein. The country is considered as one of the most fertile countries in the world by per capita gross domestic product (GDP). After the adoption of the Swiss Federal Constitution in 1848, Switzerland has been subsisted as a state.

Switzerland with its highly skilled labor force has as a stable, prosperous economy. It was ranked as being the richest country in the world in per capita terms (with ‘wealth’ being defined to include both financial and non-financial assets) in 2011. Presently, Switzerland ranks 27 of 178 countries in the Ease of Doing Business Index.

Switzerland economy:

Switzerland economy is comprised of mainly three sectors: agriculture (consists less than 10%), industry (approximately 40%), and services or tertiary sector (includes more than 50%). The country imports bulky raw materials and exports high-quality goods.

Agriculture: Swiss agricultural segment is the primary sector in Switzerland Economy, but only 10% of the population is engaged in farming activities, which receives maximum support from the government.

Industry: Switzerland industrial sector is not very renowned worldwide but the country has present companies in different industrial sectors such as food processing, chemical for industrial and construction use, pharmaceutical, roof coating etc

Services: Tertiary sector includes areas like banking, assurances, tourism and so on.

Swiss-EU: Most of the Swiss economic patterns have been brought largely into agreement with the European Union’s policies, while some trade economic policy remains the same mainly for the small agricultural sector.

Public Procurement:

Public Procurement is also known as Government procurement or public tendering. It is a process where public authority like government agency issued procurement for goods and services. In developing countries, around 20% of the government procurement accounts for a substantial part of the global economy.

In many markets, specifically in bidding markets the intensity of competition relies on the regulatory framework.

It is estimated that every year the Swiss public procurement transactions totaled over CHF 30 billion, which signifies the importance of public procurement and the consequence of the rules and regulations regulating it.

3 levels of Public Procurement :

In Switzerland, Public procurement is administered on three levels such International treaties, national level and the cantonal and municipal level.

International treaties includes the World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA) and the bilateral Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on certain Aspects of Government Procurement stand as the basis for legalities within federal, cantonal and municipal public procurement systems.

National level: Federal Act on Public Procurement (FAPP) as well as the Ordinance on Public Procurement (OPP) set the regulations for public procurement by the Confederation (and other enterprises.

The Intercantonal Agreement on Public Procurement, along with the Federal Act on the Internal Market comprise of the regulations for 26 individual cantonal laws for procurement activities within the boundaries of cantonments and municipalities.

The public procurement law applies to the transaction, which matches the definition of a “public procurement” and the procuring entity and its services are as per the public procurement law.

FAPP Rules: The FAPP rules are relevant to the bodies on a national level such as the Federal Administration, the Federal Alcohol Board, the Federal Institutes of Technology and their research centers, the Swiss Post with regard to its non-competitive postal and transport services; and federal enterprises in the sectors of water, energy, transport and telecommunications (so-called “sector entities”, as defined in Art. 2a OPP).

The public procurement law is not valid to goods bought or services sourced from a public entity’s in-house entities, as per the rule. Swiss public procurement legislation does not determine a contract, when it is to be considered an “in-house” contract. There are 2 types of in-house procurement such as direct internal awards and indirect internal awards.

Revised FAPP: Recently, in Switzerland the Federal Act on Public Procurement, which plays an important role for bidding markets, has been revised.

The act has been revised in a bid to develop public procurement (e.g. by introducing electronic procedures); to illuminate the legal terms in the area of public procurement; to assure more flexibility (specific tender procedure for very complex projects); and to accord public procurement (today, 27 frameworks exist in Switzerland: one framework in each of the 26 cantons and one framework for the Confederation).

For tenders and projects in Switzerland, visit www.tendersinfo.com

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