Key facts
- The EU's Public Procurement Act aims to leverage €600 billion in annual spending to support European businesses.
- New regulations will prioritize quality, environmental, social, innovation, security, and resilience in public tenders, with a minimum quality weighting of 30%.
- Public authorities will be empowered to favor EU goods and services, with potential restrictions on tenders from non-EU countries.
- The act consolidates complex procurement rules into a single, 200-page regulation to simplify processes and reduce red tape.
- A related European Innovation Act seeks to encourage governments to purchase pre-commercial solutions and support startups.
The European Union is set to overhaul its public procurement system, aiming to transform the €600 billion annually spent by authorities into a strategic tool for bolstering European industry and resilience. The Public Procurement Act, unveiled by the European Commission, follows recommendations from economic reform advocate Mario Draghi.
The new framework seeks to simplify a complex web of existing rules into a single, 200-page regulation, promising significant cost savings for public authorities. A key change is the increased emphasis on quality over price in awarding tenders, with a minimum quality weighting of 30% and up to 50% for labor-intensive contracts. Environmental, social, innovation, security, and resilience factors will all count towards this quality score.
Furthermore, the proposal clarifies and strengthens the ability of public authorities to favor EU goods and services. This includes powers to restrict participation in tenders and impose origin requirements, ensuring that EU or 'covered' content constitutes at least 50% of a tender's value. The Commission aims to provide greater clarity to prevent situations where non-EU goods are chosen over European alternatives.
In parallel, the proposed European Innovation Act aims to address the EU's challenge of translating research into market-ready products. This initiative seeks to position governments as key buyers of pre-commercial solutions, encouraging innovation and helping startups scale within the bloc. The act also plans to establish a new competence center within the EU's Intellectual Property Office to aid companies in marketing their intellectual property.
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