This initiative aims to evaluate the following directives:
- Directive 2014/23/EU on the award of concession contracts
- Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement
- Directive 2014/25/EU on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors.
The evaluation will assess whether the rules are working as intended.
Authorities should be allowed to define the quality and award criteria
Simplifying public procurement, including less rules dictating what to buy and award, is key to competition, cost efficiency, value for public money and SMEs interest to participate. One should guarantee authorities the independence to choose the quality and award criteria.
EU and industry should give guidelines and standards on how to report life cycle costs or security of supply. We expect EU to impose tariffs on products from third countries if these products are interrupting the market with unfair subsidies, and to tell us which suppliers to avoid.
The 2014 reform objectives have not been achieved, with administrative burdens and low SME participation still present. Since 2014, there has been a shift from how to buy to what to buy, leaving less discretion on public procurement entities. Updates of sectoral legislation dictate how to award or what criteria to have.
Public procurement cannot be the game changer
EU uses Public Procurement to drive change. However, bigger players have an advantage: They have the capacity to participate, respond to higher investment costs and to meet detailed quality expectations. The complex framework has a negative effect on competition and creates a huge administrative burden.
EU plans to postpone and lower expectations of sustainability reporting and taxonomy for companies. The plan is also to boost demand for clean products by revising the Public Procurement Framework. However, spending on public services is under constant pressure for savings and cutting services. Expectations on public procurement to make the change in the market is unfair.
A wider perspective on the award criteria is needed
EU has made false assumptions on quality in procurement by looking only at award criteria. Quality of services is difficult to assess beforehand and causes legal uncertainty. This can also be an obstacle for market entry. When trying to attract competition, one should take care of economically meaningful award criteria, relevant to the item in question and avoid imprecise criteria. Reg. on CO2 emissions of heavy duty vehicles advices us to put 15-40 % award criteria on security of supply of buses. This does not guarantee most economically advantageous offers. Criteria and technical specifications given are disproportionate in relation to the powers we have. We are small clients of vehicle industry on European scale with very limited influence on the reliability of spare parts delivery in a situation of global disturbance. There is a high threshold for PTAs to forbid goods that are accepted to EU market. It would be a loss of investment already put in charging systems, knowledge and maintenance for a certain product and an additional cost for all.
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We had a say on Public Consultations and Feedback on evaluation Public Procurement directives on 7th of March, 2025 on the European Commission page: Public procurement directives – evaluation
