§ Ms Janet AndersonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will give details of the European regulations which preclude the Home Department excluding from Home Office contracts private security firms which are not members of self-regulatory bodies. [138]
§ Mr. HowardThe European Community procurement directives lay down criteria to be followed in the award of Government contracts. All three directives for works, for supplies and for services contain provisions to ensure fair treatment and to prevent discrimination in the selection of Government contractors.
In the case of private security service contracts, article 3(2) of the European Community services directives, 92/50/EEC applies. This states that
Contracting authorities shall ensure that there is no discrimination between different service providers".The exclusion of a tenderer who was not a member of a voluntary self-regulatory body would discriminate against those who, for whatever reason, were unable, or unwilling to join such a body. Membership of such a body would not, in itself, indicate the ability of the tenderer satisfactorily to perform the service and there are other non-discriminatory means of ensuring that they can do so, for example by requiring them to demonstrate in their tender the necessary experience or technical ability to perform the contract.