EU public procurement reform aims to prioritise quality, sustainability and strategic industry growth

The European Commission is set to present its long-promised Public Procurement Act on Wednesday, 9 September 2026, in a move that would turn one of the EU’s biggest spending levers into a tool for industrial policy as well as public purchasing. Ahead of publication, reporting by Agence Europe and the Dutch financial daily FD suggests Brussels wants to push authorities away from contracts awarded mainly on the cheapest bid and towards a model in which quality, resilience, innovation,...

According to Agence Europe, which said it had obtained a draft, the overhaul would fold the EU’s three main procurement directives from 2014 into a single regulation, while leaving defence procurement outside the package. The same draft points to a default “open-negotiated procedure”, giving public buyers more room either to choose a tender directly or negotiate on the basis of award criteria. It also describes a “dynamic simplified procedure” for repeat purchases of ready-made solutions and an “innovation challenge procedure” for products that do not yet exist on the market. Qualitative criteria would account for at least 30% of the score in most tenders and at least 50% in labour-intensive contracts. (agenceurope.eu)

That would mark a significant change in a market the Commission itself says is worth around €2.5 trillion a year and accounts for roughly 16% of EU GDP, with more than 250,000 public authorities buying goods, works and services. On the Commission’s own figures, 55% of procedures still use lowest price as the only award criterion, which it says shows buyers are not paying enough attention to quality, sustainability or innovation. Brussels argues that even a 1% efficiency gain would save €20 billion a year. The wider political bodies circling the reform put the economic weight of procurement at 14% to 15% of GDP. (single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu)

The proposal also fits into a wider attempt by Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission to use public demand to strengthen European industry and cut strategic dependencies. The Clean Industrial Deal says the procurement framework will be revised in 2026 to add sustainability, resilience and European preference criteria in strategic sectors. In March, the Commission went further with its Industrial Accelerator Act, introducing “Made in EU” and low-carbon requirements in public procurement and public support schemes for sectors including steel, cement, aluminium, automotive and net-zero technologies, with chemicals flagged as a possible next step. That legislation aims to lift manufacturing’s share of EU GDP from 14.3% in 2024 to 20% by 2035. (commission.europa.eu)

One of the most politically sensitive elements is the expected “European preference”. Agence Europe reported that contracting authorities could be allowed to limit some tenders to operators established in the EU, in countries covered by the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, or in states that have free-trade deals with the bloc containing procurement access. Buyers could also be permitted to require certain works, goods or services to originate in those areas. At the same time, the Commission has been careful to present the shift as compatible with openness, saying countries that offer reciprocal access should continue to receive equal treatment. (agenceurope.eu)

Cities and regions, which say they handle nearly 45% of Europe’s procurement spend, have been pressing Brussels to simplify the system rather than merely add new policy ambitions on top of old procedures. The European Committee of the Regions warned in March that heavy documentation and complex eligibility tests were already deterring SMEs, start-ups and social economy organisations from bidding. It backed a more result-focused approach, arguing that procurement should reward timely delivery, quality and value for money while reducing litigation. Roberto Gualtieri, the Mayor of Rome and the committee’s rapporteur, said: “There cannot be an EU procurement reform without listening to cities and regions – Europe’s main public buyers.” (cor.europa.eu)

The Commission’s own 2025 evaluation of the current regime helps explain why the rewrite has gained momentum. It found that the 2014 rules had not delivered the hoped-for simplification or clarity. More than half of respondents to an open consultation, 54.1%, said the directives had not made the rules simpler, while 69% of local and regional authorities reported that national “gold-plating” had added extra complexity. The average period between the deadline for offers and contract award rose from 58 days before the 2014 reform to 62 days in 2017-2024, and only 18 member states had fully linked digital procurement systems with other public databases. (ec.europa.eu)

Business groups, unions and civil society organisations broadly support shifting attention beyond headline price, but they are also warning against a framework so elaborate that smaller players cannot navigate it. An article published this week by the European Economic and Social Committee said a key test would be whether the new rules remain workable for SMEs, independent professionals and small organisations, while also giving member states enough flexibility. It used construction engineering as an example of why the issue matters: the cheapest offer can end up being the costliest if design, planning or supervision go wrong. The committee expects to vote on its opinion in December, after the Commission proposal begins its passage through the Parliament and Council. (eesc.europa.eu)

If the draft survives largely intact, the reform will do more than tidy up procurement law. It would make public contracts a central part of Brussels’ competitiveness agenda, using annual government buying plans, streamlined digital documentation and tougher non-price criteria to channel spending towards cleaner industry, stronger supply chains and better-quality delivery. The question from Wednesday onwards will be whether governments and lawmakers agree that Europe’s procurement market should be not just cheaper and quicker, but consciously more strategic. (agenceurope.eu)

Source: Noah Wire Services