The European Commission proposes to modernise the European public procurement Directives in order to support growth and employment. In addition, as a part of an overall programme to modernise public tendering in the EU, the Commission presented a Directive on concessions.

The European Commission presented its revision of the public procurement Directives as a part of an overall programme to thoroughly modernise public tendering in the European Union. This programme also includes a Directive on concessions, which until now have been only partially regulated at European level and present specific features which justify a separate text, while maintaining consistency with the general reform. MEPs already proposed to reform rules on public procurement contracts to make it easier to SMEs.

The reform proposed by the Commission includes the modernisation of the European rules on public tendering thoroughly modernise the existing tools and instruments. Its main objective is to simplify rules and procedures and make them more flexible. Therefore, the Commission proposes in particular the possibility of increased recourse to negotiation, thus enabling the contracting authorities to purchase goods and services which are better tailored to their needs at the best price; the extension and, in the medium term, generalisation of electronic communication in public procurement, since it offers an essential means of simplifying public tendering; a drastic cut in the administrative burden, including the number of documents required from economic operators, thereby making their lives easier. In addition, the Commission wants through this reform to encourage access to public procurement for SMEs with measures to cut the administrative burden and strong incentives to divide tenders into lots and limit the financial capacity requirements for the submission of a tender.

At the same time, the proposed reform aims to facilitate a qualitative improvement in the use of public procurement by ensuring greater consideration for social and environmental criteria such as life-cycle costs or the integration of vulnerable and disadvantaged persons, thereby helping to achieve the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The Commission also proposes to improve the existing guarantees aimed at combating conflicts of interest, favouritism and corruption in order to better ensure the integrity of procedures, given the financial implications, and the appointment by the Member States of a single national authority responsible for monitoring, performing and checking public contracts to ensure that the rules are properly applied in practice.

On the other hand the European Commission together to the reform a Directive on concessions which covers the partnership agreements between a body which is generally public and a business which is often private. The proposal aims to establish a clear legal framework to ensure the necessary legal certainty for public authorities when performing their duties. They aim to guarantee effective access to the concessions market for all European businesses, including SMEs, and could thus help to stimulate the development of public-private partnerships, for which concessions constitute a tool of choice.