EU proposes new public procurement rules; Austria prepares changes
Commission wants quality, security, resilience and product origin to carry more weight; Austria's economy minister Wolfgang Hatmansdorfer has proposed similar national changes.
The European Commission has tabled a proposal to change how public money is spent across the European Union, shifting procurement decisions away from lowest price toward quality, security, resilience and the origin of products. The move targets a market worth about €2.6 trillion a year — roughly 15 percent of the EU economy — and comes amid rising trade tensions and competition from China and the United States.
Key changes the Commission wants
Under the draft rules, procuring authorities would select suppliers on the basis of the best price–quality ratio rather than price alone. Quality-related criteria — including environmental performance, social conditions, innovation, safety and supply‑chain resilience — would have to make up at least 30 percent of the evaluation weight. For contracts where labour costs are the main cost component, at least half of the evaluation must be based on quality and related criteria rather than price.
The proposal also introduces the possibility for public bodies to apply a so‑called "European preference", allowing for priority to be given to European offers in certain procurements while restricting access for companies from countries with which the EU lacks equivalent procurement arrangements.
The Commission stresses that the measures are not aimed at any single country, but they align with broader efforts to reduce dependence on non‑EU suppliers. China is not a member of the World Trade Organization's Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), while the EU is, a difference that opens room for limitations subject to the Union's international obligations. The Commission also wants the rules to take account of a product's origin, not only the seat of the supplier, because many goods contain components produced in multiple countries.
The draft is intended to boost the resilience of supply chains and steer public spending toward supporting European innovation and industrial capacity. It must now be negotiated by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, and could change in that process.
Austria has already started preparing domestic adjustments. Austrian minister for economy Wolfgang Hatmansdorfer has proposed that state institutions and public companies take the European added value of offers into account, and that national procurement rules be amended so that quality and environmental impact play a greater role alongside price. Implementing such changes will also require better tools to measure where real economic value is created, since firms can be headquartered in Europe while most production and value creation happen elsewhere.
Photo: Sloboden pechat - Zoran Rusmir
