Public procurement package

The EESC:

• welcomes the new public procurement package,
• recommends promoting the use of the "most economically advantageous tender" as the selection criterion,
• supports increasing the professionalism of all stakeholders and increasing the participation of social enterprises, with a view to combating fraud and corruption by stepping up the digital transformation of procurement,
• welcomes the efforts to increase the access of SMEs and social economy enterprises to public procurement markets and points out that there are still many obstacles to their full participation,
• recommends including specific social and environmental content in all national and EU training programmes,
• considers that it would have been preferable for the Commission to adopt a directive rather than a recommendation in order to provide an effective, consistent framework for the professionalisation of public procurement.

For more information please contact the INT Section Secretariat.