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November 2, 2026
On 9 September 2026, the European Commission presented its proposed Public Procurement Act. It argues for a single Regulation aiming to simplify the procurement framework and promote strategic public procurement. Drawing on its practical experience with local and regional authorities across Europe through the Procura+ Network, the EU GPP Helpdesk and the Big Buyers Initiative, ICLEI Europe has published a position paper highlighting the five priorities it considers essential for enabling public buyers to use procurement strategically in support of Europe’s climate, social, resilience and competitiveness objectives.
Minimum green and circular procurement requirements; protect social and labour rights through responsible public procurement; foster and scale innovation through procurement; continue to support the professionalisation of the procurement workforce; clarify proximity procurement, particularly for small-scale economic operators - these are the five priorities the Public Procurement Act should take into account in order to steer markets, foster innovation, strengthen Europe's industrial ecosystems, and deliver climate neutrality, resilience, and high-quality jobs.
ICLEI argues that if Europe is to achieve its competitiveness, strategic autonomy and green transition objectives, strategic public procurement needs to become the norm at all levels of governance. This shift firstly requires quality criteria to play a stronger role in contract awards. Greater use of criteria such as lifecycle costs, environmental and social performance, durability, and innovation, rewards responsible businesses, secures long-term value and strengthens the resilience of public infrastructure and services. In this context, ICLEI welcomes the Commission’s decision to require a minimum quality weighting of 30% in award criteria, and 50% for labour-intensive contracts.
Secondly, the shift towards more strategic public procurement requires regional and local governments to be treated as co-designers, not just as implementers. Local and regional governments are Europe's largest public buyers, managing around 45% of all procurement procedures in the EU Their procurement decisions directly shape essential services for citizens, including housing, mobility, health and care, education, water, energy and food. Ensuring that the reform reflects the practical realities faced by local and regional authorities, including proportionality, administrative capacity and the need to maintain resilient essential services and supply chains, will be critical to its successful implementation.
The full position paper, providing more details on ICLEI’s five key priorities can be found here. ICLEI also recently published an oped, providing further details on its views on the Public Procurement Act.
More details at ICLEI Europe website.
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