What is the EU Public Procurement Act and what would it change?

The Public Procurement Act is the European Commission's proposal to rewrite the rules on public tenders: one regulation that applies the same way in every member state, replacing the three 2014 directives that each country transposed in its own way (COM(2026) 590, adopted on 9 September 2026). The text is published in this official version and reached the Council on 10 September 2026 as document 12969/26. For now it is only a proposal: Parliament, the Council and the Commission have set the fourth quarter of 2027 as the target for closing negotiations, and the new rules would kick in two years after entry into force. A tender launched today is unaffected: in Italy it is still governed by the Public Contracts Code (Legislative Decree 36/2023). The text is useful for seeing ahead of time how European public tenders will change over the coming years, knowing that until adoption every figure can still move.

See also: Cloud and AI Development Act (CADA) · Proposed EU regulation, COM(2026) 502: four sovereignty assurance levels for public procurement of cloud and AI.

What the text changes

The main procedures become two, open and dynamic, both with or without negotiation, plus a dedicated innovation procedure. The winner would be chosen on price and quality together, with quality worth at least 30% of the score and at least 50% in contracts where staff account for at least half the value, such as IT operations. Awarding on price alone would still be possible, but only where the specifications or performance conditions already guarantee quality.

Whoever launches a tender would always have to consider splitting it into lots and, if they decide against it, explain why in the tender documents (Art. 100); member states may also make splitting mandatory. Small lots, below EUR 80,000 for supplies and services or below one million for works, could be awarded without a tender, up to 20% of the total value. Companies would upload their documents only once and public buyers would read them from a shared electronic service (the "once-only" principle). The Commission estimates EUR 650 million in annual administrative savings.

Like the Data Act, it is a regulation, applying identically in every member state with no transposition, and the green chapter gives a firmer legal basis to environmental requirements, while in Italy the CAM ICT already make minimum environmental criteria mandatory for technology purchases. The parallel file moving on the same ground is the Cloud and AI Development Act, which sets sovereignty assurance levels for public procurement of cloud and AI: two proposals that will have to be reconciled, one fixing the horizontal framework, the other the sector.

An enterprise example

A firm that today wins an IT services tender for a regional health authority on price would find itself competing with quality at 50%, if the text passed as drafted: that contract is labor-intensive, because the staff running it accounts for more than half the value. The bid would need references and certified service levels. In the same tender the public buyer would have to consider splitting it into lots and, if it chose not to, explain why. If it does split, ticket management, data migration and training become separate tenders, and the lot under EUR 80,000 can be awarded without a tender. A supplier with its certificates already loaded into the eligibility profile would face less paperwork.

Why it matters for decision makers

Until the proposal becomes law none of these rules applies: Italian tenders follow Legislative Decree 36/2023. But three elements decide whether a tender is winnable and how much paperwork it will ask for: the minimum weight of quality, the duty to explain why a contract is not split into lots, and documents uploaded only once. Reducing dependence on a handful of suppliers is the question digital sovereignty asks about data and infrastructure: here the answer is an eligibility requirement. Negotiations are targeted to close in the fourth quarter of 2027, and that is the phase in which the text can still be shaped. One last caveat: lowest price remains possible, so 30% is not an absolute floor.

This entry is for information and does not constitute legal advice. The Public Procurement Act is a Commission proposal, not a rule in force: the text may change in negotiations and, until it eventually enters into force, the 2014 Directives and Legislative Decree 36/2023 remain applicable. Involve your legal counsel for advice on your case.