Evaluatie van de richtlijnen inzake overheidsopdrachten
Opinion factsheet
Op deze pagina
- Ondernemingen en industrie
- Overheidsopdrachten
Opinion number:
CDR-2298-2025
Status:
Goedgekeurd
Objective
Respond to the European Commission's request for input to help shape its upcoming revision proposal, positioning the CoR as an early and constructive contributor to the legislative process
Provide a territorial assessment of how the current Directives have functioned in practice from the perspective of contracting authorities at local and regional level
Identify the main pain points for subnational authorities — administrative burden, complexity, thresholds, and capacity constraints — and translate these into concrete reform recommendations
Build political momentum for the CoR's position ahead of the Commission's formal proposal, expected in 2026
Provide a territorial assessment of how the current Directives have functioned in practice from the perspective of contracting authorities at local and regional level
Identify the main pain points for subnational authorities — administrative burden, complexity, thresholds, and capacity constraints — and translate these into concrete reform recommendations
Build political momentum for the CoR's position ahead of the Commission's formal proposal, expected in 2026
Impact
On 21 May, the European Commission published its official follow-up to the outlook opinion on public procurement.
The European Commission highlights the common ground between the opinion and the results of the Commission’s public consultation on topics such as simplification, “Made in Europe”, digitalisation, and social and green procurement.
This indicated that some of the opinion’s recommendations would find their way into the European Commission’s revision proposal.
The Commission's proposal for a Public Procurement Act was published on 9 September 2026.
The proposed reform is substantial, but it is not an overhaul of the existing Directives. It aims to simplify the framework by merging the three existing Directives (one on general procurement, one on specific sectors and one on concessions) into one Regulation, as well as moving away from a single focus on (lowest) price as a determining factor (moving toward the price/quality ratio instead).
Some of the other key elements of the proposed reform aim to:
• Reduce types of existing 5 procurement procedures to 3: "Open Negotiated Procedure" (for tailored contracts), "Dynamic Simplified Procedure" (for easy access to off-the-shelf products and services) and the "Innovation Challenge" (where market solutions still must be developed);
• Maintain "Strategic Procurement" (green, social, innovative), with a potentially much easier and broader application while not being made mandatory;
• Introduce an optional "European Preference" for which the Commission will provide an online tool to help public buyers check if an operator is a "European" company (always including third countries that are covered via international agreements); the EC can decide "in the interest of the Union" to make it mandatory, but only if this is compatible with market offers and does not lead to excessively high costs for the public buyer
The proposed reform in general seems to align well with CoR recommendations (outlook opinion, study and consultation), for instance: there is more room for flexibility and economic balance when awarding and executing the contracts; strategic procurement will be easier, but not mandatory; the lowest price is no longer determining; European preference is optional unless the Commission decides otherwise, but only if this is compatible with market reality; the Commission tries to align the Act with sectoral procurement rules; there is also a general simplification and improved digital access effort. Finally, worker protection, SME participation and subcontracting rules are also updated.
The European Commission highlights the common ground between the opinion and the results of the Commission’s public consultation on topics such as simplification, “Made in Europe”, digitalisation, and social and green procurement.
This indicated that some of the opinion’s recommendations would find their way into the European Commission’s revision proposal.
The Commission's proposal for a Public Procurement Act was published on 9 September 2026.
The proposed reform is substantial, but it is not an overhaul of the existing Directives. It aims to simplify the framework by merging the three existing Directives (one on general procurement, one on specific sectors and one on concessions) into one Regulation, as well as moving away from a single focus on (lowest) price as a determining factor (moving toward the price/quality ratio instead).
Some of the other key elements of the proposed reform aim to:
• Reduce types of existing 5 procurement procedures to 3: "Open Negotiated Procedure" (for tailored contracts), "Dynamic Simplified Procedure" (for easy access to off-the-shelf products and services) and the "Innovation Challenge" (where market solutions still must be developed);
• Maintain "Strategic Procurement" (green, social, innovative), with a potentially much easier and broader application while not being made mandatory;
• Introduce an optional "European Preference" for which the Commission will provide an online tool to help public buyers check if an operator is a "European" company (always including third countries that are covered via international agreements); the EC can decide "in the interest of the Union" to make it mandatory, but only if this is compatible with market offers and does not lead to excessively high costs for the public buyer
The proposed reform in general seems to align well with CoR recommendations (outlook opinion, study and consultation), for instance: there is more room for flexibility and economic balance when awarding and executing the contracts; strategic procurement will be easier, but not mandatory; the lowest price is no longer determining; European preference is optional unless the Commission decides otherwise, but only if this is compatible with market reality; the Commission tries to align the Act with sectoral procurement rules; there is also a general simplification and improved digital access effort. Finally, worker protection, SME participation and subcontracting rules are also updated.
Essential points
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS (CoR)
welcomes the European Commission’s evaluation of the 2014 Public Procurement Directives, in view of the revision proposal expected for 2026, and recognises it as an acknowledgment of the need to update this pivotal legislation, which has a significant impact on local and regional authorities and their citizens and businesses;
calls for the revision to consolidate and simplify the general principles already underpinning the procurement framework, ensuring greater coherence and usability; recalls that the directives contain excessively prescriptive and detailed provisions, and that principles are essential to any simplification effort, as they reduce the need for detailed provisions; notes that clearer overarching principles would promote consistent interpretation, reduce litigation and allow contracting authorities to exercise proportionate and reasoned discretion;
welcomes, for certain well-defined and limited areas of public procurement, the principle of introducing a ‘Made in Europe’ preference to be applied where appropriate by contracting authorities; underlines that clear and objective criteria must be established to determine what qualifies as ‘Made in Europe’ and ‘European supplier’, and what are the specific strategic sectors where the preference is introduced, and that the verification of such compliance should not fall on local and regional authorities but it should enable these authorities to procure EU-products from EU suppliers to strengthen their resilience, security of supply and autonomy;
underlines public procurement has the potential to further promote social and environmental sustainability, while maintaining the application of green, social and innovation award criteria on a voluntary basis, without detriment to the principle of subsidiarity and self-governance and the practical realities faced by local and regional authorities or SMEs’ participation, and always taking into account market conditions as well as existing national and EU standards; stresses that these criteria in procurement must go hand in hand with simplification, legal certainty and cooperation with economic operators, and only where market availability exists.