Government procurement in the European Union

Government procurement or public procurement is undertaken by the public authorities of the European Union (EU) and its member states in order to award contracts for public works and for the purchase of goods and services in accordance with principles derived from the Treaties of the European Union. Such procurement represents 13.6% of EU GDP as of March 2023,[1] and has been the subject of increasing European regulation since the 1970s because of its importance to the European single market.

According to a 2011 study prepared for the European Commission by PwC, London Economics and Ecorys, the UK, France, Spain, Germany, Poland and Italy were together responsible for about 75% of all public procurement in the EU and European Economic Area, both in terms of the number of contracts awarded through EU-regulated procedures and in value. The UK awarded the most contracts in value terms and France had the highest number of contracts.[2]

Although the United Kingdom left the EU on 31 January 2020, the existing regulations continued to apply until 31 December 2020 in accordance with the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

  1. ^ European Commission, Public procurement: a data space to improve public spending, boost data-driven policy-making and improve access to tenders for SMEs, 2023/C 98 1/01, published 16 March 2023, accessed 15 April 2024
  2. ^ PwC, London Economics and Ecorys, Public procurement in Europe: Cost and Effectiveness, March 2011, accessed 21 September 2016