The public procurement Directive 2004/18/EC allows recourse to accelerated procedures where justified on the grounds of urgency. The Commission recognizes that the exceptional nature of the current economic situation can justify the use of the accelerated procedure reducing considerably the overall time limit of the procedure from 87 days to 30 days. Such presumption of urgency should apply throughout this year for all major public projects.
The Commission considers that speeding up procurement procedures can significantly support Member State action to foster their economies through rapid execution of major public investment projects.
Under the accelerated restricted procedure, contracting authorities can shorten the time limit for requests to participate from 37 to 10 days if the contract notice was sent by electronic means and the subsequent time limit for the selected candidates to submit their tenders from 40 to 10 days. With the remaining standstill period of 10 days, time limits for the restricted procedure can therefore be ultimately shortened to 30 days all in all.
