In a new proposal for a European guideline the EU Commission calls for a strengthening of the rights of companies which had not been taken into consideration during the placing of public contracts. After a contract has been awarded its signing shall only be occur after a ten days waiting period during which the other companies, which have taken part in the tender, may object to the placing of the contract. This period is supposed to prevent legally binding contracts from hastily coming into existence and being given priority over possible objections which are factually justified. The new regulation is to be applicable all over Europe and also to contracts which are not awarded by the tender procedure. Furthermore the waiting period may also be reduced in particularly urgent cases.
The Commission wants to set up clear rules thereby creating incentives for companies to look for contracts on a European scale. The wording of the proposal in question is available here. 