European Commission presents proposal for a new public procurement regulation

On 9 September 2026, the European Commission presented its proposal for a new public procurement regulation intended to replace the 2014 public procurement directives. Under the proposal, the three directives currently in force would be repealed and replaced by a single, directly applicable regulation. The aim is to simplify the current regulatory framework and make public procurement a tool for achieving the EU’s strategic objectives. Through the reform, the Commission intends to create a more harmonised and digitalised framework in which environmental considerations, social considerations and innovation play a clearer role in the procurement process. The proposal also introduces principles of European preference linked to economic security. This article provides an overview of the key elements of the proposal.
 

Background

The EU’s current public procurement directives were adopted in 2014 and form the basis of the Swedish Public Procurement Act (LOU), the Swedish Utilities Procurement Act (LUF) and the Swedish Concessions Procurement Act (LUK). It is now proposed that the three public procurement directives be replaced by an EU regulation that would be directly applicable in all Member States.

Unlike the current directives, which each Member State transposes through national legislation, a regulation would be directly applicable in all Member States without the need for national implementing legislation. The proposal may be viewed as a deliberate choice by the Commission to achieve full harmonisation and prevent Member States from introducing divergent national rules.
 

What the proposal entails

The proposal principally entails the following overarching changes:

• Simpler and clearer rules: 
  The three current public procurement directives and the sector-specific procurement rules would be consolidated into a single, directly applicable regulation. The number of procurement procedures would be reduced from five to three, and the possibility of negotiating with tenderers would be extended to cover the classical sector as well. In addition, a simplified procedure for recurring purchases would be introduced.
   
• Strategic procurement and economic security: 
  The proposal places greater emphasis on strategic procurement, economic security and the participation of third countries in EU procurement. It also contains security-related rules intended to strengthen the Union’s economic security. Defence procurement would, however, remain unaffected by the reform. New provisions on resilience and security of supply would apply to contracts involving operators linked to critical infrastructure, with the aim of supporting supply-chain diversification and crisis preparedness.
   
• Digitalisation: 
  The proposal provides for an extensive digital transformation, including the introduction of a European electronic eligibility service and the development of common digital data spaces and interconnected e-procurement systems. Together, these solutions are intended to form a common, interoperable EU procurement marketplace, with the aim of reducing the administrative burden, increasing transparency, facilitating cross-border participation and thereby increasing the number of tenders received by contracting authorities.
   
• Stronger support for environmental, social and innovation objectives: 
  Under the proposal, the best price-quality ratio would become the general rule for the award of contracts. Quality criteria must carry a weighting of at least 30 per cent, while a higher weighting of at least 50 per cent would apply to labour-intensive contracts. If a contracting authority wishes to depart from this approach, it must explain how quality will nevertheless be ensured, for example by setting quality requirements as minimum requirements.
   
• European preference: 
  The regulation introduces a new horizontal framework to ensure European preference in public procurement. The framework is designed in accordance with the EU’s international legal commitments and clarifies which operators and products are covered by the Union’s procurement agreements. The regulation would empower the Commission to restrict third-country access to the EU procurement market in three circumstances: where those countries do not grant EU operators equivalent access; where there is a risk of critical supply dependency; or where this is necessary to protect the EU’s economic security interests.
   
• Needs assessment plan: 
  The proposal encourages contracting authorities to conduct market consultations before launching a procurement procedure. Information and advice from the public, experts, authorities or market participants may be used when planning and conducting the procurement, provided that the principles of equal treatment, non-discrimination, competition and transparency are respected.
   
• Consolidation of exclusion grounds and horizontal requirements: 
  The proposal consolidates provisions on the exclusion of suppliers from various sector-specific regulatory frameworks. It also brings together common requirements relating to the environment, social considerations, security and resilience within the regulation, structured around the EU’s strategic procurement priorities.
   

Next steps in the process

The fact that the Commission has presented the proposal does not mean that the new rules will take effect immediately. The ordinary EU legislative procedure will now begin, during which the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union will consider and negotiate the substance of the proposal. Such a process normally takes several years, and the proposal may be amended in several respects before a final legal act is adopted.