INTRODUCTION

Background:
The future European legal framework will lay down the obligation for competent authorities to use public service contracts as legally binding acts to entrust an operator with the provision of the public transport services. At the same time, in many European regions, experiences with tendering procedures (and contracting) are developing. New innovative practices are emerging in this area and market actors change and adapt.

Questions that will be addressed:
What changes/consequences due to the future European legal framework?
What concrete distinction between public procurement and concession?
What lessons can be learned from past tendering experiences?
What are the new developments (in terms of the market but also of actors)?
Contracting procedure and types of contract - what recommendations from an operator’s perspective ?

This one day conference should represent the starting point of a series of more specific workshops addressing concrete questions and providing a platform of peer exchange.