On Wednesday, the European Commission published a proposal to reform the Public Procurement Act and to streamline public authority spending.

The chair of Parliament’s Internal Market and Consumer Protection committee, Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA, DE), welcomed the reform initiative.

“Public procurement accounts for about 15% of the EU’s GDP. This means around €2 trillion in public spending on building roads, hospitals or providing meals in our kids’ school canteens. Using this money in a way that serves both citizens and companies, while also aligning with our policy goals is a no-brainer. Therefore, I welcome the Commission’s reform proposal. They listened to the European Parliament’s call to move away from the price-only mechanism and towards looking at the quality of the products and services purchased as well. However, the Commission could even have gone one step further to promote green and social initiatives.

The introduction of a horizontal framework to allow public buyers to purchase products and services from European suppliers is also to be positively noted. Resilience and security of supply are aspects that should be considered to boost our competitiveness. Ensuring consistency with other pieces of legislation will be key.

I explicitly welcome the planned digitalisation of procurement procedures. It can bring real simplification for municipalities and businesses alike. This was a clear demand of the Parliament in its own-initiative report last year, we hope to see it materialise at the end of the legislative process.”

Background

The new proposed regulation will replace several existing directives to make the rules directly applicable in all EU countries, thus streamlining rules more efficiently. Price will no longer be the sole determining factor in the choice of service provider or seller of goods. This reflects Parliament’s demand presented in the own-initiative report adopted last year, as well as the lesson that the cheapest solutions are often not viable in the longer term, are lacking in quality or come with higher ancillary costs. Instead of automatically choosing the cheapest offer, the regulation would oblige public authorities to take into account other factors as well, notably quality, environmental and social aspects, innovation and resilience. Additionally, the regulation will introduce a “made in Europe” dimension to tenders and promote digitalisation.