Abnormally Low Tenders: With an Emphasis on Public Tenderers

Ever since the very first European Community public procurement Directive, all public procurement Directives have contained provisions on abnormally low tenders. The rules on public procurement primarily concern procedures, and only one provision affects the substantive assessment of the price by giving contracting authorities a right to reject tenders verified to be abnormally low. Hereby, the provision on abnormally low tenders indirectly regulates the tenderers' price setting. The provision seemingly implies that there is no obligation to reject abnormally low tenders. This is the point of departure taken in the book. When contracting authorities are given the possibility of rejecting tenders that are verified to be abnormally low, thoughts are directed towards the difficult task of distinguishing between genuine price competition and abnormally low tenders. In other words, by making it possible to reject abnormally low tenders, it is implicitly acknowledged that not all forms of (price) competition are desirable.