The European Commission is preparing to revise the procurement directives. The results of the public consultation, presented by DG GROW to the European Parliament, confirm several of the central arguments in the current debate — from the ‘once only’ principle to ‘Buy European’. Here is what emerges.
With more than 1,037 responses collected, 97% from EU and EEA countries, the public consultation on the revision of the Public Procurement Directives — launched by the European Commission through the Directorate-General for the Internal Market (DG GROW) — has produced a rich and nuanced picture. The results were presented to the IMCO Committee of the European Parliament in March 2026, at a moment when the debate on reform is becoming increasingly concrete.
Topics with broad cross-cutting consensus
For those working in the procurement sector, reading these data carefully means anticipating the changes that are about to reshape the rules of the game.
| 1037 responses received | 97% from EU and EEA countries | 80% answered the optional technical questions | 14 % of EU GDP represented by public procurement |
|---|
Among the priorities that emerged most strongly, two stand out for their strategic weight and coherence with the current debate: the once only principle and the preference for European goods and services (Buy European).
Once only and Buy European
87% of respondents — the highest percentage among all simplification measures proposed — recognised a high simplification potential in the reuse of documentation already submitted by tenderers, avoiding the need to reproduce the same information for every single tender procedure. The ‘once only’ principle is the institutional response to this problem: collect once, reuse always.
All groups of European respondents expressed support above 80% in favour of giving priority to European goods and services in procurement procedures. The preferred option is the expansion of non-price criteria — social, environmental, resilience, innovation and Made in Europe criteria — with 92% of support. This is followed by the definition of selection criteria linked to European origin (85%) and, finally, the exclusion of tenderers from third countries not bound by trade agreements with the EU (supported by more than two thirds of respondents).
What do respondents expect from ‘Buy European’?
- 92% expect an increase in the chances of contract award for EU companies.
- 88% believe economic operators will need to adjust their supply chains.
- 84% anticipate a boost to European employment and investment.
From consultation to proposal: a parallel with the CQOP research
Comparing the consultation results with the proposals put forward by the CQOP research “Completing the Puzzle of European Public Procurement Reform: Towards a European System of Supplier Qualification?”, a remarkable coherence emerges. The themes that command the broadest consensus among European stakeholders find a direct institutional response in the SOA model and its potential evolution at EU level.
| Topic | What the report says (DG GROW consultation) | What the research proposes (Granickas, Nicoli, Hafner, Berdini) |
|---|---|---|
| Once only | 87% of respondents identify the reuse of documentation as the highest-potential simplification measure — ranked first among all options proposed. | The reusable SOA qualification (with constitutive effect) shifts verification upstream, eliminating duplication tender by tender. The EU ‘supplier passport’ is its logical extension at European scale. |
| Buy European | Over 80% of all EU groups support European preference. 92% favour expanding non-price criteria (resilience, innovation, Made in Europe) over directly excluding non-EU competitors. | A European SOA system would integrate European preference criteria directly into the qualification (admissibility) phase, ensuring that only operators with verified capacity compete — reinforcing industrial sovereignty without discrimination. |
| Reducing administrative burden | 76% call for more flexible contract modifications; 67% want a central EU digital platform with a single entry point for economic operators. | The public-private hybrid SOA model demonstrates that public verification costs fall systematically as the number of tenderers grows, since compliance is borne ex ante by companies, not by contracting authorities. |
| Digitalisation | 87% see document reuse as having the highest potential; 67% support a centralised EU platform. Expected impacts include faster document exchange (87%) and greater transparency (78%). | The Virtual Dossier of the Economic Operator and the PPDS can become the backbone of qualification based on dynamic data — but without an institutional architecture to interpret them, digitalisation accelerates fragmented controls without eliminating them. |
| Quality-price ratio | 51% support mandating BPQR as the standard award criterion; 88% expect better achievement of environmental, social and innovation goals. | Empirical data (Ancarani, Guccio, Rizzo, 2019) show that companies with full SOA qualification achieve better contract execution outcomes, validating the logic of ‘quality verified before the tender’. |
| Cross-border participation | 63% support excluding tenderers from countries without EU agreements; 67% call for harmonisation of requirements across Member States. Low cross-border participation is a structural reality. | Few Italian SOA-certified companies have direct cross-border experience. The problem is not discrimination at the award stage, but the absence of mutually recognised pre-certifications. Strengthened mutual recognition is the fastest route; EuroSOA the most ambitious. |
Quality over price: the paradigm shift
51% of respondents support making the best price-quality ratio (BPQR) the standard contract award criterion. Around 50% favour the introduction of a mandatory minimum weight for qualitative criteria.
On green procurement, 71% support further incentives, 55% back mandatory requirements, and clear definitions (56%) and green standards (54%) are identified as the most effective levers. On social procurement, 64% support incentive measures and 66% of those in favour expect an improvement in working conditions.
The link with the CQOP research
These results correspond directly to the conclusions of the analysis conducted by CQOP together with researchers from the Politecnico di Torino, Johns Hopkins University SAIS-Europe and Ghent University, presented in the same weeks to the European debate on reform.
The research demonstrates that the qualification of economic operators is a central design variable of the reform. The Italian SOA system, unique in Europe, offers a replicable model: reusable qualification with constitutive effect reduces document duplication (confirming the once only principle), compresses award timelines and lowers public verification costs.
The survey of approximately 700 Italian SOA-certified companies found that 83% assign high priority to a single European procurement portal and 73% consider a SOA-type system at EU level to be useful. The main barriers to cross-border operations? Not discrimination at the award stage, but lack of information (34%) and administrative duplication.
Three pathways for the EU
- Strengthening mutual recognition of qualification documentation.
- A harmonised system of accredited private bodies issuing reusable ‘supplier passports’.
- Creation of a genuine European Authority for the qualification of economic operators — a ‘EuroSOA’.
In conclusion, the reform is underway and the signals are clear: simplification, quality, Europeanisation and digitalisation are the four directions. The consultation data show broad consensus on these objectives, even as real tensions persist between different stakeholder groups — above all between those who bear the costs of verification (companies) and those who must manage them (contracting authorities).
References and sources
All statements in this article are based exclusively on the primary and academic sources listed below. No data has been modified or taken out of its original context.
PRIMARY SOURCE — EC CONSULTATION
- European Commission, DG GROW. “Factual Summary Report on the Public Consultation on the Revision of the Public Procurement Directives”. Ref. Ares(2026)3275694. 27 March 2026. Presented to the IMCO Committee of the European Parliament. https://ec.europa.eu
MAIN RESEARCH
- Granickas, K. (Open Contracting Partnership); Nicoli, F. (Politecnico di Torino); Hafner, M. (Johns Hopkins University SAIS-Europe); Berdini, D. (CQOP SOA). “Completing the puzzle of European public procurement reform: Towards a European system for the qualification of economic operators?” With a foreword by Giuseppe Busia, President of ANAC. 2026. https://www.cqop.it
ACADEMIC AND INSTITUTIONAL LITERATURE
- Ancarani, A.; Guccio, C.; Rizzo, I. (2016). The role of firms’ qualification in public contracts execution. Journal of Public Procurement, 16(4), 554–582.
- Moretti, L.; Valbonesi, P. (2015). Firms’ Qualifications and Subcontracting in Public Procurement. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 31(3), 568–598. doi.org/10.1093/jleo/ewv001
- Lappe, M.S.; Nicoli, F. (2025). Advantages and Pitfalls of Green Public Procurement as a Strategic Tool. Bruegel Working Paper 09/2025.
- Nicoli, F.; Lappe, M.S. (2025). European Green Industrial Policy at a Crossroads? Contemporary European Politics, 3(4). doi.org/10.1002/cep4.70022
- Beetsma, R.; Nicoli, F. (2024). Joint Public Procurement as a Tool for European Industrial Policy. Bruegel Policy Brief 18/2024. econstor.eu/handle/10419/302298
- Cernat, L. (2025). The Participation of Foreign Bidders in EU Public Procurement. ECIPE Policy Brief 05/2025.
- ANAC (2022). Annual Report 2021. anticorruzione.it
- ANAC (2025). Resolution no. 430 of 5 November 2025. anticorruzione.it
- European Commission (2023). E-CERTIS – information on documentary evidence required in EU public procurement.
- OECD (2022). Integrating Responsible Business Conduct in Public Procurement Supply Chains. OECD Policy Papers 14/2022.
- OECD (2024). Harnessing Public Procurement for the Green Transition. OECD Public Governance Reviews. doi.org/10.1787/e551f448-en
- EU (2014). Directive 2014/24/EU on public procurement.
- EU (2014). Directive 2014/25/EU — utilities sector.
This article is published for informational and policy discussion purposes. All data cited come exclusively from the primary sources indicated. Last updated: April 2026.
