Reducing the costs of public tenders: a modest proposal

While in the private sector the buyer chooses the number of potential suppliers to involve in an exchange, in the public sector the procedures to follow usually oblige the purchasing manager to behave in a different way. According to the European Directive 2004/18/EC, the Public Administration has to consider all the bids belonging to all the suppliers willing, and able, to take part into the trade. The main purpose of the law is to increase the competitiveness among several bidders in order to reduce the public spending, avoiding monopolistic or oligopolistic behaviours. However the legislator has not taken into account the costs associated with participation in the single tender. In the paper we underline that these costs are relevant and so by limiting the number of bidders it is possible to save money both for the Public Administration and the private sector.