Competition in procurement markets: the case of medical devices in Europe

This paper analyzes how features of the procurement system laid down by the EU Procurement Directives affect the analysis of competition in public procurement markets. It presents the bidding systems allowed under the EU rules and provides a general framework to assess competition concerns for the public procurement auctions characterizing it. It concludes by applying this analytical framework to the case of the procurement of medical devices in Europe, a sector recently experiencing multiple mergers among the major manufacturers.