The European Commission evaluates the effectiveness of the directives on public procurement and concessions

On May 27, 2025, the European Commission (EC) published the results of a public consultation conducted in connection with the review of the European directives regulating public procurement and concessions. The consultation was open for feedback from December 13, 2024, to March 7, 2025, and aimed to collect in-depth data and an assessment of the effectiveness of Directives 2014/23/EU, 2014/24/EU, and 2014/25/EU.

The main conclusions of the consultation show that the European directives have failed to make the public procurement system sufficiently flexible and establish more simplified rules. However, the digitization of the process has reduced the administrative burden and accelerated the award of contracts. The directives have contributed to reducing corruption and increasing transparency, but have not led to greater competition in the public procurement markets.

Regarding market access, the rules are assessed as unsuitable for companies outside the EU. On the other hand, the rules for electronic public procurement are considered up-to-date and facilitating access. However, the directives have not sufficiently encouraged companies to apply environmental, social, and innovative solutions in their economic activities.

Another problem identified in the consultation is the practice of awarding contracts solely on the basis of the lowest price, which often leads to poor practices. In addition, there is often only one bid, but the reason for this is not linked to the award rules, but to market structure or other factors.

Additionally, the EC published questions and answers clarifying the participation of bidders from third countries in public procurement procedures conducted by EU contracting authorities. This information is related to the decisions of the Court of Justice of the EU in cases C-652/22 (Kolin) and C-266/22 (Qingdao).

For convenience, the EC will also publish an unofficial translation of the materials related to the review and assessment of the directives.