Council adopts conclusions on the Court of Auditors' report on public procurement

Ministers have today adopted Council conclusions on the European Court of Auditors' (ECA) special report on public procurement in the EU.

The conclusions, entitled 'Improving fair and effective competition for EU public procurement contracts awarded for works, goods and services', reflect the response of competitiveness ministers to that report and propose the launch of an EU-wide strategic action plan for public procurement as one of the priorities for the Commission's next mandate.

Public procurement is one of the main drivers of economic growth and employment and can be a powerful tool for achieving our strategic objectives. However, we need to be certain we obtain the maximum value for every euro spent on public purchases, ensuring that the rules are clear, that information is easily available and that there is real competition among all participants. 

Pierre-Yves Dermagne, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for the Economy and Employment

Content of conclusions

The conclusions welcome the ECA's report and its recommendations. Ministers are calling for the streamlining and improvement of the rules on public procurement and the launch of an in-depth analysis of the existing legal framework. The conclusions underline the importance of high-quality data availability and advanced tools to provide information on public procurement in the EU. Finally, the conclusions recommend consulting stakeholders, promoting best practices, ensuring professionalisation and launching an EU-wide strategic action plan for public procurement in the EU. 

Background

The public purchase of works, goods and services from suppliers through public procurement amounts to some €2 trillion per year, around 14% of the EU's gross domestic product (GDP). 

On 4 December 2023 the European Court of Auditors published a special report entitled 'Public procurement in the EU: less competition for contracts awarded for works, goods, and services in the 10 years up to 2021'. The report criticised the decreasing competition in public procurement over the last decade, particularly in view of the large proportion of direct awards in some member states and single bidder procedures. The Court also underlined the low proportion of contracts awarded to SMEs, and an insufficient use of strategic public procurement. Other shortcomings identified in that text were the low level of direct cross-border procurement and the lack of monitoring of the public procurement market by the Commission and the member states.