Transparency in Defence Procurement Without Competition: An Analysis of Tenders Electronic Daily Data (2015-2023)

One of the motives behind adopting the Defence and Security Directive was to reduce the use of Article 346 TFEU, thereby creating more transparency in defence and security procurement. This article examines awards of public contracts in the defence and security sector when the competitive procedures of the Defence and Security Directive do not apply. This is achieved by analysing a TED dataset covering the 2015-2023 period, which consists of Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency notices (VEAT notices) and Contract Award Notices (CANs) related to procurement under the Defence and Security Directive. The analysis consists of a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the dataset. The data reveals a significant divergence between countries in the use of the possibilities to create ex ante and/or ex-post transparency regarding non-competitive procurement and what seems to be specific procurement practices for individual countries.These practices range from more consistent transparency, to (intentional or unintentional) missing data or data lacking proper inputs, as well as consistent use (or potential misuse) of justifications for resorting to non-competitive procurement. This article concludes that, on the assumption that the use of Article 346 TFEU is widespread, the degree of transparency created by contracting authorities through publications of VEAT notices and/or CANs is (very) low. It is noted that the data quality and notorious absence of data on non-competitive procurement make the findings uncertain and possibly somewhat biased, raising questions about the usefulness of TED data in providing transparency for defence and security procurement.