What Buyers Should Prepare for Ahead of 2026
Public procurement is no longer viewed simply as a compliance exercise or a mechanism for purchasing goods and services. Across Europe, it is increasingly being used as a strategic policy tool to strengthen resilience, support industrial competitiveness, accelerate digital sovereignty, and secure critical supply chains. The European Commission’s recent move toward a “sovereign cloud” procurement strategy, designed to prioritise European providers and reduce technological dependency, is one of the clearest recent examples of this shift. Against this backdrop, the forthcoming EU procurement reform is not just about simplifying rules, it reflects a broader repositioning of procurement as an instrument of economic and strategic policy.
Why Reform, and Why Now?
Public procurement represents approximately 14% of EU GDP, accounting for around €2 trillion in annual spending. Yet the legal framework governing how that money is spent has not been fundamentally revised since 2014. After more than a decade of patchy implementation, accumulating sector-specific legislation and declining market competition, the European Commission has concluded that the status quo is no longer fit for purpose.
In October 2025, the Commission published a formal evaluation of its three core procurement directives, Directives 2014/24/EU (public sector), 2014/25/EU (utilities), and 2014/23/EU (concessions). Average procurement timelines had lengthened from 58 days in 2014 to 62 days in 2025. Legal uncertainty had generated 107 requests for preliminary rulings before the Court of Justice of the EU over just a nine-year period. Most strikingly, the share of tenders receiving only a single bid rose from 23.5% in 2011 to 41.8% in 2021, a near doubling that signals a market increasingly hostile to participation. In parallel, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on procurement reform in September 2025 by 432 votes to 95, calling for urgent revision to strengthen competitiveness, sustainability, resilience, and digitalisation. With the Commission’s 2026 Work Programme formally announcing a Public Procurement Act, with a legislative proposal targeted for Q2 2026, the direction is now clear.
Simplification: Cutting Through the Complexity
Simplification is the main part of the reform and the Commission’s Single Market Strategy, adopted in May 2025, explicitly promised to tackle “overly complex EU rules” and to centralise and streamline the fragmented and complex provisions that have accumulated across multiple pieces of sectoral legislation.
The evaluation identified complexity as the single greatest barrier to effective procurement. Layers of sector-specific rules added on top of the 2014 directives have created regulatory inconsistency that disadvantages both contracting authorities and bidders. The system’s complexity has actively suppressed competition: the average number of bidders per procedure fell from 5.7 in 2011 to 3.2 in 2021, a decline mirrored by the steep rise in single-bid tenders.
What simplification will likely mean in practice:
- Consolidation of fragmented sectoral rules into a single, coherent legislative instrument
- Clearer definitions of key terms to reduce legal uncertainty and reliance on case-by-case
- Proportionate qualification and documentation requirements, particularly for lower-value contracts
- A greater flexibility for contracting authorities in how they structure procedures, without lowering transparency standards
The European Committee of the Regions, in its March 2026 opinion, stressed that simplification must translate into practical gains for local and regional authorities, who manage nearly 45% of EU procurement. And the Mayor Roberto Gualtieri of Rome, acting as rapporteur, called for “simpler rules, so that every euro spent can become high-quality delivery for our citizens.”
What buyers should do now:
- Build internal capacity around strategic procurement rather than purely administrative compliance
- Audit your current procedures against the likely reform objectives, identify where complexity is creating genuine delays or deterring bidders
- Engage with national transposition consultations when they open, practitioners’ input shapes how general principles become workable rules
SME Access: Opening the Market
SME participation has been a stated objective of every EU procurement reform since 2004. The 2014 directives introduced the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD), lot-division options, and caps on turnover requirements specifically to lower barriers. The results have been mixed and whilst SMEs currently win around 71% of EU public contracts by number, the Commission’s evaluation confirms that heavy documentation requirements and complex eligibility criteria continue to deter smaller firms from entering competitive procedures, particularly at higher contract values. The reform is expected to go further as the European Parliament and the Committee of the Regions have both called for proportionate documentation requirements, greater flexibility for small contracts, and clearer harmonised rules on capacity requirements. The Commission has acknowledged in its communications that bureaucratic burden falls disproportionately on SMEs and local businesses.
Key reforms expected for SME access:
- Strengthening and standardising lot-division obligations, making it harder for authorities to bundle contracts unnecessarily
- Expanding the ‘once only’ principle, requiring authorities to source information from registries rather than from bidders repeatedly
- Clearer rules on sub-contracting, with transparency and labour-standard obligations at every tier of the supply chain
- Targeted support tools, including harmonised bid-preparation guidance and interoperable national databases
One recurring concern is that digitalisation, while broadly positive, risks creating new barriers if platforms are poorly designed or fragmented. The Committee of the Regions explicitly warned against “fragmented and overly rigid digital requirements that could create new burdens, especially for smaller authorities and SMEs.” Any digital-first approach must be accompanied by accessible tools and support for smaller operators.
What buyers should do now:
- Consider SME-friendly procurement policies proactively, regulators will reward early movers
- Review your standard lot structures, are you creating unnecessary scale requirements that exclude SMEs?
- Prepare for expanded ‘once only’ obligations by mapping what documents you currently request and whether they could be obtained from registries
Sustainability Requirements: From Optional to Embedded
Perhaps the most consequential shift in the reform is the move from voluntary to mandatory sustainability criteria. Currently, fewer than 15% of large EU public contracts above threshold are considered ‘green’. Public procurement accounts for roughly 10% of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions. The Commission has concluded that leaving sustainability criteria optional has been a structural failure: most authorities still award to the cheapest bid, and the rules’ complexity discourages green approaches even when buyers want to use them.
The reform, as set out in the Clean Industrial Deal and the Single Market Strategy, will allow, and in certain sectors require, sustainability, resilience, and ‘Made in Europe’ criteria in procurement decisions. Energy-intensive sectors will be the first to feel the impact, with the Industrial Decarbonisation Accelerator Act introducing clean and circular criteria specifically for sectors such as steel. A voluntary carbon intensity label, based on Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism methodology, is expected to precede binding requirements as the regime beds in. The Bruegel Institute’s analysis of the reform notes that the Commission aims to incorporate these non-price criteria even where doing so leads to higher prices, viewing this as essential to creating ‘lead markets’ for European green industry. This represents a decisive reframing of the ‘most economically advantageous tender’ (MEAT) principle: value will increasingly encompass environmental and resilience factors, not just upfront cost.
What buyers should do now:
• Begin embedding lifecycle cost analysis into your evaluation frameworks, cost of energy use, maintenance and durability alongside upfront price
• Start collecting sustainability data from your supply chain now; compliance documentation will be increasingly required in bid evaluation
• Review the Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria already published by the Commission for your sector, these will likely form the baseline for mandatory requirements
• Invest in staff training on environmental and social criteria assessment, evaluation panels will need new skills
Digitalisation: From Document Handling to Data Management
The Commission has long promoted eProcurement as a route to efficiency. Electronic submission has been mandatory for above-threshold contracts since 2018. The reform now seeks to go much further, shifting the system from ‘document handling’ to a genuine ‘data management’: procurement as a source of real-time, structured, open data rather than a library of PDFs.
The Open Contracting Partnership, in its February 2026 submission to the Commission, argued that “true simplification requires a shift from document handling to data management.” Their central recommendation is a genuine ‘once-only’ principle backed by interoperable national databases and machine-readable procurement notices, so that suppliers provide information to government once and it flows across systems automatically. The reformed eForms standard, which became mandatory for above-threshold notices in October 2023, is a foundation for this shift. Future reforms are expected to build on this by requiring bulk-downloadable, API-accessible procurement data, enabling SMEs, auditors, and market analysts to work with public procurement information at scale.
Key digital reforms expected:
• Full implementation and enforcement of structured eForms across all Member States
• Strengthened eCertis tool and European Single Procurement Document to remove repetitive certification requirements
• Harmonised data infrastructure enabling cross-border market intelligence for bidders
• AI-assisted tools for contract award monitoring and fraud detection
The Commission has also committed to cutting administrative burdens by 25% overall and 35% for SMEs. For procurement, this will mean digital platforms that genuinely reduce workload rather than simply shifting paper processes online. Contracting authorities should expect scrutiny of whether their digital tools meet this standard.
What buyers should do now:
• Ensure full compliance with eForms requirements and use the structured data capabilities, not just the templates
• Integrate with eCertis and national registers where possible, stop requesting documents suppliers have already submitted to government
• Plan for open data obligations: assume your procurement data will be publicly accessible and machine-readable
• Evaluate whether your current eProcurement platform supports the interoperability standards expected under the new Act
A Practical Checklist for Procurement Professionals
Whilst the Public Procurement Act will not come into force before the end of the decade, the trajectory is set. Contracting authorities and procurement teams that act now will be better placed for compliance, and better positioned to use the new framework as a competitive and strategic tool.
Simplification
• Audit current procedures for unnecessary complexity, identify quick wins before legislation mandates them
• Engage with your national competent authority’s consultation process
SME Access
• Review lot structures and qualification thresholds for proportionality
• Map documentation requirements against ‘once only’ readiness
Sustainability
• Begin lifecycle cost analysis on major category spend
• Collect supply chain sustainability and carbon data proactively
• Train evaluation panels on environmental criteria assessment
Digitalisation
• Validate eForms compliance and structured data outputs
• Assess eProcurement platform interoperability and open data capability
• Reduce reliance on document-heavy workflows in anticipation of data-first obligations
The EU’s forthcoming reform of the public procurement framework represents a strategic repositioning of how public money is spent across Europe. Procurement is increasingly being used as a lever for competitiveness, climate action, market access, and digital transformation. Buyers who treat this shift as background noise risk being caught off-guard and those who use the transition period to invest in capability, data infrastructure, sustainability frameworks, and SME-friendly practices will not merely comply, they will lead.
Background Reading and Additional Sources:
European Parliament, Legislative Train Schedule – Public Procurement Act (updated March 2026) https://www.europarl.europa.eu/legislative-train/theme-a-new-plan-for-europe-s-sustainable-prosperity-and-competitiveness/file-public-procurement-act
European Commission – Public Procurement, Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (2026) https://single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/single-market/public-procurement_en
European Commission – Digital Procurement https://commission.europa.eu/funding-tenders/tools-public-buyers/digital-procurement_en
IISD – ‘Public Money, Public Value: The EU’s Public Procurement Directive Review Explained’, September 2025 https://www.iisd.org/articles/explainer/european-union-public-procurement-directive-review
IISD – ‘Reform Options for EU Public Procurement’ (full report), November 2025 https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2025-11/reform-options-eu-public-procurement.pdf
Bruegel – ‘Mapping the Road Ahead for EU Public Procurement Reform’ https://www.bruegel.org/first-glance/mapping-road-ahead-eu-public-procurement-reform
European Committee of the Regions – Opinion on EU Public Procurement Reform, March 2026 https://cor.europa.eu/en/news/eu-public-procurement-reform-must-simplify-rules-and-put-people-innovation-and-sustainability-first
Open Contracting Partnership – ‘A Smarter Single Market: Why Transparency and Data Must Drive EU Procurement Reform’, February 2026 https://www.open-contracting.org/2026/02/06/a-smarter-single-market-why-transparency-and-data-must-drive-eu-procurement-reform/
European Court of Auditors Special Report 28/2023: Public procurement in the EU https://www.eca.europa.eu/en/publications?did=57303
