On 14 October the European Commission published a comprehensive report on the evaluation of the 2014 public procurement Directives (‘the Report’, 'the Directives').

The Report marks the first step towards revising the Directives, pulling together the strands of the extensive consultation strategy to-date, ahead of an impact assessment and the Commission’s legislative proposal(s).

The Report confirms that while the Directives’ policy objectives have been partially met, the current public procurement framework lacks the agility, coherence and strategic focus needed to respond effectively to current and emerging challenges.

Both the Draghi and Letta reports stressed the need to revise public procurement practices. In her political guidelines, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a revision of the EU's rules to promote current EU policy goals, incl. to:

·        Give preference to European products in procurement for certain strategic sectors; 

·        Ensure EU added value and security of supply for vital technologies, products and services; and 

·        Modernise and simplify the public procurement rules, in particular with EU start-ups and innovators in mind. 

On 09 September the European Parliament adopted a resolution endorsing key themes in the ongoing evaluation, including a shift from the "lowest-price principle" to more quality and innovation-based criteria and improving the access of small and micro-enterprises to procurement procedures.

The Commission plans to present its proposals to revise the rules in Q4 2026.

Participants in this first 'Chatham House rule' in-person / webinar discussion including Q&As with Henning Ehrenstein and Jugatx Ortiz Gonzalez will benefit from exploring the Report in detail and its implications for a balanced reform of the EU’s public procurement regime.

DG GROW's Evaluation report webpage (14.10.25)

Procurement Directives consultation webpage

Factual Summary report webpage (20.05.25)

European Parliament resolution on public procurement (09.09.25)