The Association of Finnish Cities and Municipalities (AFCM) welcomes the direction set out by the European Commission for the future of European public procurement. The proposal rightly seeks to simplify the regulatory framework while strengthening professionalisation and supporting strategic procurement objectives. To be successful, the reform must maintain sufficient flexibility for contracting authorities, strengthen legal certainty and keep administrative burdens proportionate. AFCM supports the Commission's decision to replace the current directive-based framework with a regulation. A more harmonised legal framework can strengthen the internal market, provided that sufficient discretion is preserved for contracting authorities in individual procurement procedures.
The Commission’s proposal strikes the right balance between legal certainty and flexibility. By reducing procedural complexity, promoting digital tools and encouraging rather than mandating horizontal policy objectives, it provides contracting authorities with a versatile framework that preserves professional judgement while encouraging good practice through instruments such as market consultations, negotiations and sustainable procurement options. In the forthcoming negotiations, it will be essential to avoid additional mandatory requirements. Applied daily by tens of thousands of procurement professionals across the EU, the procurement framework must remain proportionate, practical and sufficiently flexible to accommodate diverse procurement needs.
The Commission’s proposed approach to European preference is sufficiently clear, predictable and workable from an implementation perspective. Rather than developing separate approaches in sector-specific legislation, this model should serve as the common framework across EU legislation.
To ensure legal certainty, consistency and ease of application, public procurement legislation should serve as the single framework for the implementation of European preference and other horizontal objectives. Legislative initiatives pursuing the same objective should be required to refer to and apply the mechanisms established in procurement legislation rather than introducing alternative methodologies or parallel compliance regimes.
Granting the Commission broad delegated powers risks shifting key regulatory content to future secondary legislation, leading, instead of flexible rules, to an excessive and fragmented regulatory framework that will be difficult for local authorities to monitor, interpret and implement.
Furthermore, where the Commission provides digital tools to verify eligibility under European preference rules, contracting authorities should be entitled to rely on the information provided through those tools. The use of Commission-operated tools should provide an appropriate degree of legal protection and certainty for contracting authorities acting in good faith, thereby ensuring consistent application across the Union and reducing unnecessary administrative burden.
The objective of improving transparency and evidence-based policymaking is fully supported. However, the proposed scope of the National Public Procurement Data Space appears both overly ambitious and difficult to implement in practice. Many Member States currently lack the necessary data infrastructures, and the added value of collecting and centralising extensive procurement data at EU level remains unclear.
The proposal should focus on information that is demonstrably necessary for EU-level policy objectives. Data primarily required for national oversight or policy purposes shall remain within national systems. In the national data systems, a more targeted approach improves proportionality, reduces administrative burden and mitigates cybersecurity and data governance risks. The proposal should also better justify the scope and level of detail of data that primarily serves national purposes.
ASSOCIATION OF FINNISH CITIES AND MUNICIPALITIES
Pauliina Jalonen
Senior Policy Adviser
