Minister of State Frank Feighan says proposed EU rules could cut red tape, boost digital procurement and help smaller Irish firms compete for contracts at home and across Europe.
Minister of State Frank Feighan has welcomed the European Commission’s move to overhaul the EU’s public procurement rules, saying the changes could help make it easier for small firms to win public work and for governments to spend money more effectively.
The Commission presented its proposa...
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l for a Public Procurement Act on 8 September 2026, setting out plans to replace the bloc’s existing directives with a single regulation. Officials in Brussels say the overhaul is intended to simplify procedures, expand digital procurement and give contracting authorities more scope to support wider policy goals, including environmental, social, innovation and security priorities.
Feighan, who has responsibility for public procurement, said the Commission’s own assessment showed that small and medium-sized enterprises remain central to the system but are not yet participating as fully as they could. He pointed to falling numbers of bids in some tenders, limited cross-border participation between member states and the continued complexity of procurement rules as factors discouraging businesses from competing.
The minister said the message he hears from Irish firms is consistent: the system needs to be less complicated, more transparent and more open to smaller operators, particularly family-run businesses that do not have dedicated procurement teams.
He said a recent in-person SME engagement event in Sligo had underlined that appetite to bid for public contracts exists, but only if the process is understandable and workable in practice. In his view, many companies step back from tenders because the paperwork looks too demanding, the contract size is too large or they cannot spare the time and staff needed to prepare a bid.
That challenge is especially acute for smaller firms, he argued, because a multinational can assign a full team to procurement while a local business may have only an owner and a handful of employees juggling every aspect of the company.
According to the Commission, the reform is part of a broader simplification drive aimed at reducing regulatory burdens across the EU. Brussels has set targets of cutting administrative costs by at least 25% for all businesses and 35% for SMEs, with the wider programme intended to deliver tens of billions of euro in recurring savings over the current mandate.
The public procurement changes also fit into the Commission’s wider digital agenda. It has already been encouraging member states to modernise procurement processes through tools such as electronic submission, digital access to tender information and e-invoicing, alongside systems designed to make it easier for businesses to prove qualification and compliance.
For Ireland, Feighan said, the stakes are significant. He argued that as a small, open economy, the State has an interest in a system that allows domestic businesses not only to compete at home but also to access opportunities across the Single Market.
He said more competition would improve value for taxpayers and could drive innovation, while greater participation by Irish SMEs in cross-border contracts could help them grow beyond their local markets. He also said that if the EU wants a genuine single market in public procurement, then fragmented systems and differing national procedures have to be addressed.
The Commission’s proposal will now move through the EU legislative process, with negotiations expected among member states and later with the European Parliament. Ireland will chair part of those talks during its Presidency of the Council of the EU, with Feighan saying the Government intends to engage constructively while also pressing ahead with its own domestic reform agenda.
At home, officials are working on a new National Public Procurement Strategy built around simplification, stronger competition, greater digitisation and increased SME participation. Feighan said the aim is to create a system that is easier to use, more open to smaller companies and better able to deliver value for public money.
Source: Noah Wire Services
