European Commission Proposes Simpler and More Strategic Public Procurement Rules

Key points

• The European Commission adopted a proposal for a new regulation to modernise and simplify the EU's public procurement framework.
• Public procurement accounts for around 15% of EU GDP.
• The proposal is expected to deliver annual administrative savings of €650 million, including €80 million for public buyers and €570 million for economic operators.
• It consolidates three existing procurement directives into one directly applicable regulation and reduces procedures from five to three.
• It creates a digital procurement marketplace of interconnected Member States' eProcurement platforms applying a once-only principle.
• The Best Price-Quality Ratio would become the standard award method, with quality criteria weighted at least 30%, or 50% for labour-intensive contracts.
• The proposal introduces a European preference framework and would allow restrictions on coverage where a third country fails to grant EU operators fair market access.
• The proposed regulation will be negotiated by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union before adoption and entry into force.