Value for Money (VFM) Principle Based Public Procurements

Abstract

Because of the efficiency focus in the public sector, all public spending is now expected to comply with the “value for money” principle, along with fair competition, transparency and publicity and other public procurement principles. Due to the domestic implementation of the Public Procurement Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and Council, the new Hungarian public procurement law (Act CXLIII of 2015 on Public Procurement) contains the “value for money” principle as one of the possible contract award criteria. With this, the possibility of purchasing based on the “value for money” principle has been established in Hungary, as well.
However, the MEAT (most economically advantageous tender criteria) is only a part of the overall concept. The aim of the article is to show the diversity of the principle, the possibilities and limitations of its application into the procurement practice through the available guidelines.