Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Added26. Promotes fair competition among bidders through ensuring that award criteria be designed taking into account new entrants, start-ups, SMEs and innovative businesses, fostering market diversity and competitive pricing;

Digital transformation of European public procurement

Change 8

Changed14.27. Strongly believes that digitalisation should remain a key element in lowering costs and streamlining public procurement for contracting and bidding entities;entities, pointsespecially out,very small entities and SMEs; suggests, however, that to fully harness the potential of digital tools, the Commission and the Member States must completely rethink how future procurement legislation should safely facilitate and secure digitalisation, rather than merelyjust digitalising currentlycurrent lengthy analogue processes; underlines the importance of public procurement platforms being accompanied by updated, clear and specific guidelines and instructions to ensure that all users, regardless of their level of experience, can effectively navigate and utilise these platforms; highlights the need for increased support and training for contracting authorities on the use of digital tools;

Change 9

Changed15.28. RecommendsCalls for the Commission to adopt a particulardigital-first focusapproach in the revision of the EU public procurement legal framework; recommends focusing particularly on automating and ensuring the interoperability of certain processes, such as through moving to a transaction-based system from an outdated notification-based system, reducing the amountnumber of e-formselectronic forms and integrating the European single procurement document and eCertis into broader administrative and business systems,systems; considers that this transition will reinforce the possibility of public scrutiny in the procurement process, especially considering the potential offered by disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence; believes that this transition to automated, transaction-based systems would enhance real-time data capture, streamline procurement processes and allow for better data utilisation, which would be particularly beneficial for SMEs;

Change 10

Removed16. Is convinced that the Commission, in dialogue with stakeholders, should assess which procedures provide little added value relative to their costs and then either automate them or eliminate them entirely;

Added29. Stress that establishing pan-EU procurement data architecture with reliable, structured data collection is crucial to driving better intelligence and improving procurement performance across the Member States; stresses, in addition, the importance of promoting interoperability between public databases in order to speed up checks on the accuracy of the requirements by operators and to avoid requesting information already available in various public databases; welcomes, in this context, the Commission’s initiative for a European public procurement data space (PPDS); considers that this initiative has the potential to improve transparency and to support the prevention of misuse of funds, fraud and corruption, as well as to create more procurement opportunities for SMEs and ensure that public spending achieves better value by combining European and national procurement datasets; requests that the Commission explore options for introducing a public procurement digital passport, with special attention paid to SMEs, as a tool to promote SMEs’ participation in public procurement; underlines the need to use current tools such as eForms, eTender, eCertis and the PPDS more effectively in order to move away from analogue processes towards fully digital systems to make procurement decisions smarter;

Removed17. Draws attention to the successful adoption of the GovTech procurement model in countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Denmark, as well as the Commission’s recognition of the model as a key tool in achieving the goals outlined in the EU 2030 Digital Compass;

Added30. Notes that the introduction of the European single procurement document (ESPD) has not fully achieved its objective of simplifying and facilitating the participation of companies in public procurement, owing to the persistence of operational difficulties that continue to complicate companies’ access – particularly very small entities and SMEs – to procurement procedures; calls on the Commission to streamline and clarify standard procurement documentation, including the ESPD; encourages the Commission and the Member States to explore how procurement systems can interface with other well-functioning administrative systems and databases at national and EU level to improve the EU’s internal market;

Added31. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to ensure the enforcement of uniform cybersecurity standards aligned with the Cyber Resilience Act and the NIS2 Directive, where applicable, in all relevant EU public procurement legislation, as well as to ensure that EU data protection rules are complied with throughout all stages of the procurement process;

Added32. Calls for the harmonisation of electronic identification and authentication processes across the Member States to ensure secure, efficient and trusted digital public procurement throughout the EU;

Added33. Is convinced that the Commission, in dialogue with stakeholders and social partners, should assess which procedures provide little added value relative to their costs, administrative burden or contribution to quality and then either improve, automate or eliminate them entirely;

Added34. Draws attention to the successful adoption of the GovTech procurement model in countries such as Poland, Lithuania and Denmark, as well as the Commission’s recognition of the model as a key tool in achieving the goals outlined in the EU 2030 Digital Compass; believes that building upon successful national experiences and fostering the development of a European GovTech market serves as an opportunity for the public sector to rapidly and efficiently access tailor-made digital solutions, while also supporting a digital-oriented public procurement reform; underlines that the use of GovTech in pre-commercial procurement has so far enabled less financially resourced municipalities to form multi-partner consortia, a model that can be scaled up for larger national projects; notes, however, the existence of certain challenges that undermine the effective use of GovTech and believes that this should be addressed in the future;

Specific recommendations for improving European public procurement

Change 11

Changed18.35. Calls for a revision of the EU public procurement framework focusedto onboost European competitiveness, promote a more sustainable economy, build resilience, ensure legal certainty, while digitalising procedures, reducing and simplifying the rules;rules both for contracting authorities and bidders, and ensuring security of supply for certain vital technologies, products and services, promoting quality jobs and delivering services for citizens, including by respecting collective bargaining agreements in accordance with national laws and practices; stresses that the Commission should propose a harmonisation limited to essential aspects where it can deliver possibly the greatest added value, such as digital procurement tools and the standardisation of tender procedures and structures for joint procurement at both national and cross-border level; in this vein, encourages the use of digital procurement tools to facilitate cross-border participation and calls for the promotion of cross-border public procurement in the single market, particularly in border regions; emphasises that the objective should not be harmonisation for its own sake, but rather theto improvementenhance oflegal certainty, efficiency and predictability, as well as the reduction ofreduce excessive administrative burdens on contracting authorities and bidders, while maintainingincreasing sufficientflexibility, flexibilityfreedom of choice and autonomy for contracting authorities, to ensure the prudent use of taxpayers’ money;

Change 12

Removed19. Requests the establishment of uniform guidelines, standardised monitoring mechanisms and effective enforcement tools to promote legal certainty and consistency across public procurement in the EU;

Added36. Highlights the need to train contracting authorities, including giving an explanation of the rules and adequate clarification of the use of non-price criteria, including the legal basis for the MEAT criteria and the need to ensure the application of Article 18(2) of Directive 2014/24/EU to offer legal certainty to contracting authorities so that they feel more confident using them, while maintaining adequate oversight and data access options; encourages the Commission to further strengthen the professionalisation and training of procurement officials and suggests that the Commission increase funding for further training of contracting authorities to effectively implement the EU public procurement framework;

Removed20. Supports the introduction of standard contract section templates across the Member States in order to create greater uniformity in tendering procedures and ensure legal clarity for contracting authorities and economic operators;

Added37. Notes that awarding public contracts based solely on the lowest price might encourage unfair competition and that this is at the expense of quality, sustainability and social standards; insists that more contracts should be awarded based on the best price-quality ratio, through use of MEAT criteria, meaning that tenders should be evaluated not only on price but also on factors such as quality, regional impact or continuity of supply of complex and essential services; adds that non-price considerations should be given a substantial weight in the overall rating and final decision on the award of contracts;

Removed21. Recommends that the Commission fully utilise current tools to prevent unfair competition from non-EU countries;

Added38. Recommends that concrete actions should be put forward by the Commission to combat corruption and increase transparency in the use of negotiated procedures without prior publication, notably through strengthening the voluntary ex ante transparency notice; calls for these notices to be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and on the website or other public platform of the relevant contracting authority, depending on the value of the procurement; stresses that these notices must include a justification for the use of the negotiated procedure, outlining the specific reasons for departing from standard procurement methods, without placing an undue administrative burden on the contracting authorities;

Removed22. Urges the Commission and the Member States to take decisive action against non-EU entities that exploit state subsidies to gain an unfair advantage in procurement processes; recommends the introduction of stronger measures against abnormally low bids put forward by non-EU entities such as mandating independent cost assessments and ensuring that price undercutting does not undermine fair market competition;

Added39. Calls for a revision of the exclusion criteria in procurement processes, enabling them to better address specific sectoral risks related to fraud, corruption and criminal infiltration; stresses that different sectors require separate tailored exclusion criteria, reflecting their specific vulnerabilities; firmly believes that contracting authorities should be empowered to adapt procurement procedures to combat and address criminal activities; highlights that in order to promote greater efficiency and simplification, the provisions relating to grounds for exclusion should be streamlined through an exhaustive list and a clear distinction between mandatory grounds for exclusion, intended to protect the public interest, and optional grounds for exclusion, intended to protect the interests of the contracting authorities or entities; adds that any economic operator that breaches its obligations under applicable labour and environmental laws pursuant to Article 18(2) of Directive 2014/24/EU should effectively be excluded from the public procurement process in question;

Removed23. Seeks to ensure that public procurement incorporates mechanisms that support regional economic resilience, the equitable distribution of opportunities and the sustainability of local economies, which will balance out the disproportionate centralisation of economic activity in urban hubs; underlines, in this context, the role of agriculture producers and their supply chains;

Added40. Encourages greater cross-border cooperation in public procurement, where it offers clear benefits, such as in large-scale projects, in order to enhance efficiency and cohesion within the EU internal market; supports interoperable digital infrastructure that enables procurement data and procedures to be shared seamlessly across Member States, as this would reduce barriers and enhance market cohesion, benefiting suppliers of all sizes across the EU;

Removed24. Recommends the implementation of strategic procurement models that prioritise long-term value and resilience over short-term cost reductions, particularly in sectors such as healthcare, energy and security;

Added41. Calls for full use to be made of all the flexibility provided under the GPA in EU public procurement law, at least for sub-central contracting, with the aim of achieving a substantive simplification of procurement procedures; highlights that the GPA allows for significantly greater flexibility and more streamlined procedural options concerning the choice and design of procurement processes; calls on the Commission to assess the possibility of allowing small contracting authorities to use simplified procedures, making use of the flexibility provided in Directives 2014/25/EU and 2014/23/EU, in order to address their limited resources and expertise and to reduce unnecessary administrative burdens, thereby enabling them to fulfil their tasks more efficiently;

Removed25. Supports the modernisation of procurement criteria to reflect advancements in technology and security, ensuring that new procurement frameworks allow for agile responses to changing economic and geopolitical landscapes;

Added42. Emphasises that various sector-specific public procurement rules are fragmented and may be difficult to implement for both businesses and local governments;

Removed26. Calls for enhanced SME support mechanisms to enable smaller businesses to effectively compete in public tenders, including a mandatory SME test on new rules, tailored financial instruments, technical assistance programmes and a reduction in bureaucratic constraints that disproportionately affect SME participation;

Added43. Calls on the Commission to review and assess sector-specific procurement rules and streamline them to reduce unnecessary burdens on contracting authorities while ensuring transparency, efficiency, legal certainty and flexibility; calls for sectoral legislation to remain harmonised with the overall procurement frameworks and to remain restricted to technical specifications;

Removed27. Calls for the simplification of selection criteria and the creation of a digital database for pre-qualified SMEs to streamline their participation in public procurement; stresses that the EU public procurement framework must ensure equitable access for SMEs and local businesses by promoting simplified procedures, proportional requirements and the mandatory division of contracts into smaller lots to prevent dominance by large entities;

Added44. Requests the establishment of uniform non-binding guidelines, standardised monitoring and reporting mechanisms, procedural guarantees, independent oversight bodies with sufficient powers and effective enforcement and compliance tools to promote legal certainty, fair competition, and consistency across public procurement in the EU, without restricting contracting authorities’ discretion; highlights the need for support for contracting authorities, especially those with limited administrative and economic resources in enforcement and to ensure that contractors comply with the agreed contractual obligations; emphasises the importance of the principle of proportionality, meaning that the contracting authority’s decisions, as well as the requirements and conditions set in a tender, must be aligned with the nature and scope of the contract being procured; urges the Commission to clarify this concept to incentivise the use of criteria other than price only;

Removed28. Supports contract pricing flexibility through the introduction of provisions that allow price adjustments in response to inflation, material cost increases and changes in labour laws, ensuring contract viability without imposing financial strain on public authorities;

Added45. Notes that greater integration of the public procurement market is crucial to achieving the EU’s strategic goals, provided that this fully respects Member States’ competence to define their own strategic priorities; underlines that any efforts to standardise procurement procedures must be guided by the principle of subsidiarity and preserve national flexibility;

Removed29. Calls for the establishment of special procurement rules for scientific research and innovation projects, recognising their critical role in driving economic and technological progress;

Added46. Stresses that SMEs’ efforts to explore other Member States’ markets should be supported; calls for the sharing of best practice across the EU and the simplification of cross-border procurement procedures; calls on the Member States to encourage business participation in cross-border public procurement by refraining from using language criteria to decline bids in tender procedures;

Removed30. Supports a framework for robust emergency procurement measures that enables rapid response mechanisms for critical supply shortages, ensuring that procurement rules allow for accelerated processes without compromising competition and transparency;

Added47. Calls on the Commission to streamline administrative processes as much as possible to ease burdens, refine selection criteria for effective procurement and boost administrative capabilities; believes that standardised criteria make for more accessible and attractive contracts for SMEs, which is essential to foster wider participation and drive innovation in the sector; strongly recommends, therefore, the issuance of standardised criteria in the form of non-binding Commission guidelines;

Added48. Recommends the introduction of strengthened mechanisms for transparency and oversight in public procurement by integrating advanced data analytics and AI technologies into the procurement process to detect potential non-compliance, irregularities, fraud, national security risks and corruption in real-time; encourages the Commission, in this context, to support the development of a data-driven risk analytics platform connected with supplier registries and both EU and national debarment databases within the PPDS, including the integration of procurement, company and sanctions data to enable proactive fraud detection and integrity monitoring;

Added49. Considers that the introduction of an EU-wide mechanism that ensures cross-border information sharing for contracting authorities on the economic operators that have been excluded from procurement markets and the duration of their exclusion, in line with Article 57 of Directive 2014/24/EU, would facilitate enforcement, simplify procedures, safeguard public funds, safeguard a level playing field in the internal market and reinforce the security and integrity of critical public infrastructure and services; notes that cross-border information sharing regarding a certain trader being excluded in one Member State is not a prerequisite for that trader’s exclusion in another Member State;

Added50. Urges the Commission to study the feasibility of an EU-wide register of declarations of interest in the field of public procurement, taking into account the value of contracts, allowing for the identification of personal or professional links between contracting authorities and successful tenderers, in order to prevent situations of conflict of interest that could affect the integrity of the process and to ensure the existence of robust whistleblowing mechanisms;

Added51. Considers that further simplification and standardisation of public procurement practices are needed; supports the introduction, where appropriate, of standard contract section templates across the Member States in order to create greater uniformity in tendering procedures, reduce administrative burdens and ensure legal clarity for contracting authorities and economic operators, while maintaining flexibility for market-driven solutions; notes, moreover, that the introduction of standard contract section templates across the Member States would also facilitate the integration of contract data into digital platforms, enabling easier tracking and comparison; considers that such standardisation contributes significantly to administrative efficiency and the reduction of transaction costs, as it enables contracting authorities to streamline the preparation of tender documents and economic operators to reuse elements of previous tenders, particularly when participating in multiple procurement procedures; points to the use of standard models, which should allow shorter and more consistent tender documents;

Added52. Welcomes the priority given by the Commission to reducing the burden on businesses of legally mandated reporting requirements by 25 % and 35 % for SMEs; calls for this priority to be implemented across all sectors and calls for the upcoming public procurement review to be assessed on this basis;

Added53. Calls on the Commission, the Member States and contracting authorities to make full use of the available tools such as the EU’s trade defence toolbox, to prevent unfair competition from non-EU countries that discriminate against EU countries’ participation in their public procurement processes, and to apply a strict principle of reciprocity with the effective use of the EU’s International Procurement Instrument, especially when it comes to access to strategic sectors of the EU public procurement market; recalls that the EU may restrict access to its public procurement markets in response to breaches of international trade rules, including increases in customs duties that are incompatible with WTO rules; calls, furthermore, for decisive action through the Foreign Subsidies Regulation; highlights, moreover, the possibilities offered by Regulation (EU) 2023/2675 on the protection of the EU and its Member States from economic coercion by third countries; stresses that the procedures followed before the implementation of rebalancing measures are too slow; calls on the Commission and the Council to allow procedures enabling a quicker reaction; recalls that non-EU countries that are not part of the GPA or have not concluded international agreements with the EU guaranteeing equal and reciprocal access to public procurement cannot claim equal treatment in the area of public procurement, as clarified by CJEU case-law (Case C-652/22);

Added54. Recalls that the conditions set out in ILO Convention No 94 on Labour Clauses should be respected, and considers that countries that do not comply with them should not be able to access EU public procurement processes;

Added55. Notes that a significant proportion of contracts in most Member States are awarded based on the lowest price bid; highlights the need to ensure that non-EU companies do not gain an unfair advantage in procurement procedures through direct or indirect state subsidies, thereby distorting fair competition within the internal market; urges the Commission and the Member States to take decisive action against non-EU entities that exploit such subsidies to undercut prices or dominate tenders in a manner inconsistent with EU competition rules; recommends establishing clear and transparent rules for the exclusion of non-EU entities, as well as EU-based companies whose non-EU subcontractors have repeatedly breached EU law; further calls for convergence among Member States on the rules governing the participation of non-EU bidders in public tenders, particularly in the case of projects financed with European funds;

Added56. Underlines that abnormally low tenders, especially from non-EU bidders, may compromise the effective execution of public contracts, endanger quality standards, and pose risks to national security, particularly in the context of critical infrastructure; calls for stronger measures to detect and address such bids, including through independent cost assessments and clear obligations for contracting authorities to reject offers where the justification for the unusually low price is insufficient or unconvincing; calls, in this context, on the Commission to put forward a clear and harmonised methodology for assessing the notion of ‘abnormally low price’, in order to provide contracting authorities with greater legal certainty and practical guidance when evaluating tenders;

Added57. Calls for the continued application of derogations for the outermost regions given the specific challenges these territories face; recognises, furthermore, the unique circumstances of communities residing in EU border regions that engage in regular cross-border economic and social exchange with neighbouring non-EU countries;

Added58. Seeks to ensure that public procurement incorporates mechanisms that support regional economic resilience, the creation of quality local jobs and the sustainability of local economies, contributing to a more balanced distribution of economic activity between urban and non-urban areas; underlines, in this context, the role of agricultural producers and their supply chains, as well as the paramount role of services of general economic interest; invites the Commission to assess the recommendation contained in the Draghi report to provide contracting authorities with the option of setting an explicit minimum quota for selected locally produced goods in public procurement where appropriate and feasible; emphasises that public procurement practices should foster economic growth without unduly favouring specific sectors or regions, while recognising the importance of strengthening the ability of contracting authorities to give greater weight to social and sustainability criteria, including environmental and climate-related considerations, where they deem it appropriate;

Added59. Recognises the specific characteristics and strategic role of public procurement in bolstering EU food security and resilience, and acknowledges the need to make better use of sustainability and climate-related criteria, support EU farmers, and promote healthier eating habits as well as sustainable and healthy food policies;

Added60. Supports increased flexibility in public-public partnerships, enabling public authorities to work together more effectively to enhance service delivery and reduce costs; calls on the Member States to consider developing a public-private partnership and dialogue in public procurement in order to improve the efficiency of processes and the cooperation between public authorities and businesses; recommends revising the current directive’s definition of public-public cooperation to acknowledge such cooperation as any contracts or arrangements made between two or more contracting authorities; calls on the Commission to consider exempting cooperation between public authorities (public-public cooperation) for the purpose of efficient task fulfilment from the scope of the procurement directives, without further restrictive conditions;

Added61. Stresses that the development and use of trustworthy, high-quality and transparent sustainability labels and certifications help contracting authorities operationalise sustainability objectives, thus reducing the administrative burden and the need for in-depth technical assessments; calls on the Commission to promote and further develop such labels at EU level, ensuring their credibility and usability across sectors;

Added62. Observes that contracting authorities are already engaged in sustainable and climate-friendly procurement, guided by comprehensive sustainability regulations at the EU, national and regional levels;

Added63. Underlines, in the light of CJEU case-law (including Case C-395/18), that contracting authorities are entitled to include requirements based on national labour law in procurement documentation, such as binding collective agreements, minimum employment standards, equal pay provisions, and other relevant social criteria; welcomes the clarification by the CJEU that the social and environmental obligations in the Horizontal Social Clause are ‘a cardinal value with which the Member States must ensure compliance’; calls on the Commission to develop guidance and a legal framework, including clarification of the subject matter and its practical application, that ensures legal certainty and empowers contracting authorities – within their own discretion – to apply such criteria without facing disproportionate legal risks;

Added64. Recognises the significant potential of socially responsible public procurement (SRPP) in promoting decent work, social inclusion and sustainable development; encourages contracting authorities to systematically integrate social criteria in public procurement procedures, while ensuring economic feasibility, flexibility and subsidiarity; calls on the Commission to assess the inclusion of social criteria in the procurement procedures and provide a clear legal and policy framework and practical guidance, including legal clarity and examples of good practices, to enable effective and legally sound implementation of SRPP by contracting authorities; recognises that including social clauses, such as requirements related to working conditions, collective bargaining and respect for labour rights, can significantly enhance the quality and reliability of public procurement outcomes; calls on the Commission to clarify in the revision that the requirements set out in Article 18(2) of Directive 2014/24/EU, relating to environmental, social and labour law, are binding;

Added65. Believes that public procurement procedures should encourage and reward innovative and sustainable solutions that can stimulate economic development; highlights the importance of introducing and implementing sustainability criteria across Member States in a way that reflects current EU legislation; calls on the Commission in the context of the forthcoming fitness check on EU public procurement legislation to assess the establishment of a sector-specific sustainability criteria toolbox comprising model award and technical criteria, verification methodologies and contractual provisions, with a view to facilitating the progressive adoption of more sustainable procurement practices, offering clarity for contracting authorities while allowing them to tailor requirements to specific sectors and local economic capacities; requests that the Commission examine how sustainability-related aspects can be better integrated when applying the principle of the most economically advantageous tender, in order to foster innovation and efficient resource use; calls on the Commission to develop a set of criteria with the aim of fostering innovation in sustainable technologies and increasing the EU’s competitiveness in future lead markets; believes that strengthening the market for secondary materials should form part of this approach; stresses in this context that the development of a toolbox should be contingent on demonstrable evidence that (a) it does not oblige contracting authorities or contracting entities to incur disproportionate costs or result in incompatibilities or technical difficulties, (b) it takes into account the life cycle, diversity and availability of relevant products and services, and adheres to the principle of technological neutrality, and (c) it preserves fair competition;

Added66. Recommends the implementation of strategic procurement models that prioritise the interests of the EU and the Member States, as well as long-term value and resilience over short-term cost reductions, and offer lead market opportunities for products respecting the EU’s objectives, particularly in strategic sectors;

Added67. Requests that the Commission conduct an in-depth impact assessment, in the context of the upcoming review of the public procurement framework, on possible ways and implications of prioritising the ‘European preference’ principle in procurement related to strategic industries so as to ensure the continuity of critical capabilities in Member States and bolster resilience, security, competitiveness and strategic autonomy; emphasises that the Commission should carefully evaluate the potential cost implications, the risks of limiting access to cutting-edge technologies, and the effects on the quality of services and products, while maintaining consistency with the EU’s international legal commitments and not excluding like-minded partners; underlines that any measures to promote the participation of European companies should not amount to protectionism or distort competition; recognises, in that context, the importance of businesses that invest and reinvest in the EU, strengthening the EU’s economy, protecting workers’ welfare and benefiting local communities; invites the Commission, furthermore, to examine opportunities to boost the participation of EU-based companies in procurement processes launched for projects financed by EU institutions or by extension of the preference system set out in Article 85 of Directive 2014/25/EU to contracts awarded by contracting authorities;

Added68. Stresses the specific challenges faced by electricity grid operators, with increased delivery times and costs; calls for public procurement procedures for electricity grid operators to be simplified and their flexibility and efficiency ensured; advocates for more consistency between EU regulations impacting the public procurement of electricity grids;

Added69. Underlines the importance of unlocking investments in the market for public procurement and concessions, and calls on the Commission to examine whether the current framework for the duration of concession contracts adequately reflects post-award investments by concessionaires, and to consider whether greater flexibility would help incentivise such investments;