Source: European Parliament
The Commission welcomed the European Court of Auditors’ (ECA) special report on public procurement[1] and accepted all the recommendations it formulated[2].
As mentioned in its reply, the Commission will analyse the causes of substantial shortcomings in public procurement markets, including obstacles to the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to tenders and will work towards the revision of the directives announced by the President-elect of the Commission in the political guidelines 2024-2029[3]. In this complex process, all stakeholders will be given the opportunity to express their views and provide input.
Additionally, the Commission will continue to pursue initiatives to support the use of sustainability and innovation considerations in public procurement.
These include fostering communities of practice of public buyers across the EU[4] and organising government dialogues in the Member States for the creation of national strategies to implement strategic procurement.
- [1] https://www.eca.europa.eu/en/publications?ref=SR-2023-28
- [2] https://www.eca.europa.eu/Lists/ECAReplies/COM-Replies-SR-2023-28/COM-Replies-SR-2023-28_EN.pdf
- [3] https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/e6cd4328-673c-4e7a-8683-f63ffb2cf648_en?filename=Political%20Guidelines%202024-2029_EN.pdf, page 11.
- [4] https://public-buyers-community.ec.europa.eu/