Best value procurement for rail – Can Europe make a step-change in award criteria?

Public procurement is considered a key element in fostering the European economy, creating jobs in the EU and advancing on strategic targets. In Europe, public authorities spend around 14% of GDP on the purchase of services, works and suppliers.

Given its specificities, the European Rail Supply Industry strongly depends on public procurement frameworks to advance its business activities since most rail and urban transport operators are public authorities. Therefore public procurement is by far the predominant and most common process for awarding rail projects in Europe and globally. The EU Directives on Public Procurement and the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) principle are important tools to foster such goals.

UNIFE, along with other rail stakeholders, is organizing a Workshop entitled “Best-Value Procurement for Rail – Can Europe Make a Step-Change in Award Criteria?” that is going to be held in Vienna (at the HQ of the Austrian rail operator ÖBB) on 14 May.

The objective of the event is to bring the railway community and different stakeholders together (rail suppliers, operators, infrastructure managers, European Commission and Member States representatives) and exchange on concrete terms about best practices, and learning lessons on how to apply the MEAT principle, both at the EU and national levels.

The event will start with a panel discussion on “EU Public Procurement for Rail: European and National Perspectives”, followed by the roll-out of three specific and hands-on workshops to discuss how MEAT can be further implemented.

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Program details:

UNIFE WORKSHOP

Date – 14 May 2024

**VIENNA, Austria (1100 Vienna, Am Hauptbahnhof 2)**

AGENDA

9:15 – 9:45 Registration and welcome coffee

9:45 – 10:00 Welcome and Introduction

Klaus Mindel (Director General ad interim, UNIFE)
Andreas Matthä (CEO of Austrian Federal Railways ÖBB and CER Chair)
Hannes Boyer (President of the Austrian Rail Industry/Verband der Bahnindustrie)

10:00 – 11:00 EU Public Procurement for Rail: European and National Perspectives

Representative of the German contracting authority Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr – (name to be announced)
Michael Fruhmann (Director, Directorate for Public Procurement, Austrian Federal Ministry of Justice) – invited

11:00 – 11:15 – Coffee Break

11:15 – 12:30 Workshop 1: Hands-on experiences and best practices on how to apply the MEAT principle

Robert Eingang (Sales Director Trains, Siemens)
Óscar Heredia (High Speed Supervision Manager, ADIF)
Aiga Benfelde (Procurement Manager/Deputy Head of Procurement, Rail Baltica)

12:30 – 14:00 – Lunch

14:00 – 15:15 Workshop 2: Financial, social and environmental benefits while applying the MEAT principle

Sarah Stark / Pauline Maître (German Railway Industry Association)
Annika Sievers-Sinapius (DACH Sustainability & CSR Manager, Alstom)
Nicolas Coppin (Manager Purchasing, INFRABEL)

15:15 – 16:30 Workshop 3: Steps forward to further apply the MEAT principle

Nadja Jungwirth (Managing Director – CSO, voestalpine)
Tjeerd Biessels (Procurement Strategist, Pro Rail)

16:30 – 16:40 Closing remarks

Klaus Mindel (Director General ad interim, UNIFE)

For more information, please contact ana.manuelito@unife.org and rachely.burgos@unife.org.