Public procurement is the process by which public authorities, such as government departments or local authorities, purchase works, goods or services from companies. Public procurement accounts for about 15% of the EU’s gross domestic product (GDP). It is regulated by law to maximise value for money for the public sector and ensure compliance with three key principles:
- equal treatment
- non-discrimination
- transparency
Public procurement and the Single Market – why does it matter?
To create a level playing field for businesses across Europe, EU law sets out minimum harmonised public procurement rules. These govern the way public authorities and certain public utility operators purchase goods, works and services. The European Commission’s public procurement strategy is designed to improve EU public procurement practices in a collaborative manner by working with public authorities and other stakeholders.
The number of published tenders continues to increase. In 2023, 293 000 were published, almost double the number 10 years ago.
Performance indicators
‘Performance’ measures whether purchasers get good value for money. The indicators below measure key issues on public procurement performance in a way that is transparent and easy to understand and compare.
Like all indicators, however, they simplify reality. They are affected by country-specific factors such as what is actually being bought, the structure of the economies concerned, and the relationships between different tendering options, none of which are taken into account. In some cases, many tenders below EU thresholds are published in Tenders Electronic Daily (TED). This publication is voluntary and considered a good practice, because it increases transparency for a significant part of the procurement not covered by the EU rules (national rules apply for tenders below the EU thresholds, but they must still respect the general principles of EU law).
Moreover, some aspects of public procurement have been omitted entirely or covered only indirectly (e.g. corruption, the administrative burden and professionalism). The scoreboard provides useful information, but it gives only a partial view of EU Member States’ public procurement performance. The indicators should therefore be interpreted carefully and ideally in the light of additional quantitative and qualitative information.
Overview
The colour thresholds are based on two factors:
- qualitative policy judgement on what constitutes good practice
- recent data for individual countries
Performance colour codes:
- green – satisfactory performance
- yellow – average performance
- red – unsatisfactory performance
| Indicator | Green | Red |
|---|---|---|
| [1] Single bidder | ≤ 10% | > 20% |
| [2] Direct awards | ≤ 5% | ≥ 10% |
| [3] Publication value by GDP | > 5% | < 2.5% |
| [4] Joint procurement | ≥ 10% | < 10% |
| [5] Award criteria based on price alone | ≤ 80% | > 80% |
| [6] Decision speed | ≤ 120 days | > 120 days |
| [7] Contracts with SME participation | > 60% | < 45% |
| [8] SME bids | > 80% | < 60% |
| [9] Procedures divided into lots | > 40% | < 25% |
| [10] Missing previous publication number | ≤ 3% | > 3% |
| [11] Missing supplier registration number | ≤ 3% | > 3% |
| [12] Missing buyer registration number | ≤ 3% | > 3% |
Indicator [1]: Single bidder
This chart shows the proportion of contracts awarded where there was just a single bidder. Framework agreements are excluded, because they have different reporting patterns. Direct awards (i.e. those negotiated without a call for competition or awarded without prior publication of a contract notice) are also excluded, because the rules on such procedures do not make any provision for competition. In 2023, the proportion of public procurement tenders with a single bidder rose to the highest level in the last 10 years. There are still 20 Member States with a high percentage, so there is clearly room for improvement.
The more bidders the better, because this means public buyers have more options and can get better value for money. This indicator reflects several aspects of procurement, including competition and bureaucracy.
Indicator [2]: Direct awards
This chart shows the proportion of procurement procedures negotiated with a company without any call for bids (‘tenders’). Calling for bids before starting procurement negotiations is a better approach because it makes the bidder-selection process more transparent and increases competition. This leads to better value for money. This indicator reflects several aspects of procurement, including transparency and competition.
Indicator [3]: Publication value by GDP
This chart shows the value of procurement advertised on TED as a proportion of national GDP. A higher score is better, because it means that more companies can bid, bringing better value for money. It also means greater transparency, because more information is available to the public. This indicator reflects the value of national public procurement advertised to businesses (i.e. the accessibility and openness of public procurement markets).
Indicator [4]: Joint procurement
This chart shows the proportion of procurement procedures involving more than one public buyer. This indicator reflects how often public buyers buy together. Buying in bulk often reduces prices and provides an opportunity to share knowledge. Not all types of purchases are suitable for joint procurement, but excessively low rates suggest missed opportunities.
Indicator [5]: Award criteria based on price alone
This chart shows the proportion of procedures awarded solely because the offer was the cheapest one available. The choice of criteria depends on what is being purchased, but an over-reliance on price suggests that better criteria could have been applied, resulting in a better purchase. The indicator reflects how public buyers choose the companies they award contracts to. Specifically, it shows if their decisions are based on price alone or if they also consider quality.
Indicator [6]: Decision speed
This chart shows the average decision-making period (i.e. the time between the deadline for receiving offers and the date the contract is awarded). To ensure comparability, only notices published under the open procedure, which do not include framework agreements, are considered.
Very lengthy procedures are expensive and cause uncertainty for both public buyers and companies. This indicator reflects the speed of the public buyers’ decision-making.
Indicator [7]: Contracts with SME participation
This chart shows the proportion of contracts that include small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). High percentages are better, because most companies in the EU are SMEs. Low percentages could indicate the existence of barriers to SMEs participating in procurement procedures (e.g. overly complex bureaucracy, calls for tender biased against SMEs, or low capacity among smaller firms to compete).
Indicator [8]: SME bids
This chart shows the proportion of bids from SMEs. High percentages should be the rule, because most companies in the EU are SMEs. Low percentages indicate the existence of barriers to SMEs.
Indicator [9]: Procedures divided into lots
This chart shows the proportion of tenders divided into lots. This is another indicator related to SMEs’ participation in public procurement and reveals the same stable trend observed for indicators 7 and 8. Lots are beneficial, particularly for SMEs, because they make it easier for them to make an offer. Low percentages show that large companies can more easily bid for public contracts. This means that public buyers are missing out on the opportunities that smaller firms can offer.
Indicator [10]: Missing previous publication number
This chart shows the proportion of contracts awarded that did not include the publication number of the related call for competition. This is the first of three data-quality indicators (Indicators [10]-[12]). A lower score is preferable because it indicates that businesses and the public can understand how contractors have been selected. However, a higher score indicates that public buyers are failing to provide enough information on their procurement activities and are therefore in breach of EU law.
Indicator [11]: Missing supplier registration number
This chart shows the proportion of contracts that did not include the supplier’s registration number. A lower score is preferable. Buyer and supplier registration numbers (provided by business registries) are crucial for understanding who is buying from whom using the different procurement procedures. A higher score indicates that public buyers are failing to provide enough information about the party they have selected, following a procurement procedure, to sell them goods, works or services.
Indicator [12]: Missing buyer registration number
This chart shows the proportion of procedures that did not include the buyer’s registration number. A lower score is preferable. Buyer and supplier registration numbers (provided by business registries) are crucial for understanding who is buying from whom across different procurement procedures. A higher score indicates that public buyers are failing to provide enough information about their procurement activities.
More information on public procurement
The indicators show how different EU Member States are performing on key aspects of public procurement.
All indicators are based on notices published in the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) database, under four EU Procurement Directives (General, Sectoral, Concessions and Defence).
These data are available at the EU Open Data Portal. More data and indicators are also available at opentender.eu, an EU-funded research project.
For more detailed information on public procurement, see EU public procurement.
For general information on public procurement, see Your Europe.
Note: At the end of 2023, the format of the data used to compute the above public procurement indicators has changed from standard forms to eForms. The proportion of data related to eForms for 2023 is: 6% contract award notices, 3% for contract awards, and 12% contract notices. There are some technical issue when combining the two data formats, as such, given the lower proportion of eForms, the 2023 procurement indicators were computed only using the standard forms format.
eCertis
eCertis is an online database that lists eligibility criteria and documentary evidence. These are needed by companies in every EEA country in order to be able to take part in public procurement. eCertis is a useful tool for EEA-based companies wishing to participate in public procurement and for public buyers evaluating bids received from various EEA countries.
eCertis in figures
- eCertis contains a total of 2 189 records (criteria, items of evidence and issuing bodies). This is a 2.63% increase on the previous year, when the number stood at 2 133. A total of 1 224 criteria (up 2.34% on the previous year) and 676 items of evidence (up 2.58% on the previous year) were listed in eCertis on 24 September 2024.
- The system contains information on 289 bodies that issue certificates. This means that 11 more issuers were registered in 2024 than in the previous year.
Disclaimer: eCertis is managed by the Commission. Participating countries are obliged to make sure that the information in it is accurate and up to date. It is for reference purposes only and is not legally binding. It shows what evidence is required to fulfil a criterion. For example, for a supplier to prove to country A that it has paid taxes in country B.
eCertis and the Single Market - why does it matter?
eCertis helps:
- suppliers (tenderers) identify what proof they need to submit when they are awarded a contract in an EEA country
- contracting authorities (buyers) in EEA countries determine which documents they can accept, or they need to ask tenderers to provide.
The Commission aims to support both suppliers and buyers in the field of public procurement by making all the information that is needed on grounds for exclusion and selection criteria available through a single service. Accessible information is needed to help make the Single Market a reality.
According to eCertis indicators, the availability of data provided by EU Member States remained stable between 2023 and 2024. Overall, most Member States have a complete set of evidence on exclusion grounds.
The data below are a snapshot from eCertis taken on 24 September 2024.
Performance indicators
Overview
This table shows the availability of data recorded in eCertis for each country for two indicators:
- Indicator 1: Criteria completeness
- Indicator 2: Evidence recorded
Each of these indicators is split into two sub indicators:
- Sub indicator 1: Exclusion grounds (EG)
- criminal convictions (CC): contracting authorities may exclude a supplier (economic operator) from participation in a procurement procedure if it has participated in a criminal organisation
- non-payment of taxes and social security contributions (PT): contracting authorities may exclude an economic operator from participation in a procurement procedure if it is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions
- insolvency, conflict of interests or professional misconduct (INS): contracting authorities may exclude an economic operator from participation in a procurement procedure if it is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up proceedings, guilty of grave professional misconduct or a conflict of interest.
- Sub indicator 2: Selection criteria (SC)
- economic and financial standing (EF): contracting authorities may impose requirements ensuring that economic operators possess the necessary economic and financial capacity to perform the contract
- quality assurance schemes and environmental management standards (QA): contracting authorities may require economic operators to demonstrate that they have such schemes and standards in place
- suitability to pursue the professional activity concerned (ST): contracting authorities may require economic operators to be enrolled in one of the professional or trade registers kept in their country of establishment or to comply with any other request set out in that Annex XI of Directive 2014/24/EU
- technical and professional ability (TP): contracting authorities may impose requirements ensuring that economic operators possess the necessary human and technical resources and experience to perform the contract to an appropriate quality standard.
Provision of data for sub indicator 1 is mandatory, while it is optional for sub indicator 2.
Legend
The final classification takes into account the “total” score for each indicator (last row of each table) and is calculated as follows:
| Red | Both sub indicators are red |
|---|---|
| Yellow | If both sub indicators are yellow or if there is a mix between yellow and red |
| Green | If both sub indicators are green or if there is a mix between green and yellow |
Indicator [1]: Criteria Completeness
The graph shows the percentage of criteria set at EU level that have been recorded in eCertis for each country. Higher scores show countries have entered more data in the eCertis database.
Legend
| Red | ≤ 0 % |
|---|---|
| Yellow | > 0 %, ≤ 50 % |
| Green | > 50 %, ≤ 100 % |
Indicator [2]: Evidence recorded
Legend
Each criteria of the sub indicator is coloured as follows:
| Red | A country has not entered any evidence data |
|---|---|
| Green | A country has entered at least one item of evidence |
The final classification considers the “total” score for each table (last row of each table) and is calculated as follows:
| Red | All criteria are red |
|---|---|
| Yellow | A mixture of red and green values |
| Green | All criteria are green |