In general, EU public procurement law applies in the same way whether a public or private supplier is selected. However, instead of selecting an external provider, contracting authorities can chose to perform their public interest tasks using their own resources and in cooperation with other contracting authorities. Under certain circumstances, such cooperation does not fall under EU public procurement law.

As contracting authorities do not always know whether and under which conditions EU public procurement law applies, the EU has been consulting EU countries to identify what further action is needed.

• Text of the document (04.10.2011)
  Commission Staff Working Paper concerning the application of EU public procurement law to relations between contracting authorities ('public-public cooperation') - SEC(2011)1169