On Thursday 22 May, the EU ministers responsible for competitiveness will discuss the reform of the European directives governing public procurement, which is due to be completed by the end of 2026 (see other news).
In a preparatory note, the Polish Presidency of the Council of the EU notes that one of the aims of this review will be to use public procurement as an economic strategy by introducing a European preference for certain technological sectors.
The Polish authorities also note that the Public Procurement Directives (2014/24 and 2014/25) have been supplemented by specific provisions relating to public procurement in more than thirty sectoral texts, such as the Net-Zero Industry Act and the Energy Efficiency Directive. They see this as a “possible deterioration” in the coherence of the legal framework.
A “worrying sign”, according to the Polish Presidency, is the observed reduction in competition between bidders in calls for tender. According to the 2024 Internal Market Scoreboard, the proportion of public contracts (excluding contracts awarded directly without competition) awarded on the basis of a single tender had reached 54% in Poland and 49% in Greece by 2023. In twenty Member States, this proportion exceeded 20%, the threshold beyond which a country’s performance is considered poor.
Lastly, the Polish Presidency wants to get the opinion of ministers on the level of precision in the formulation of public procurement objectives to be included at European level. In other words, should there be flexibility to allow regional contracting authorities to pursue specific purchasing strategies? - it questions.
To see the Polish note: https://aeur.eu/f/gxw (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)