Can Europe afford to choose the cheapest instead of the best?
My position
For planning, consulting and engineering services, quality must be weighted clearly above price. Whoever tenders for the cheapest offer here saves at the wrong end.
What the Commission proposes
On 9 September 2026 the European Commission presented its proposal for a Public Procurement Act. It would merge the three existing procurement directives into one regulation. Public buyers in the EU spend around 2.6 trillion euros a year, according to the Commission.
According to the main elements as published, the proposal provides for:
- one rulebook instead of three directives
- fewer award procedures (three instead of five)
- the best price-quality ratio as the default instead of the lowest price, with a minimum weighting of 30 percent for quality criteria
- a framework for a European preference
- broader grounds for excluding bidders
Parliament and Council are expected to negotiate through 2027.
Why price is the wrong criterion here
When the public sector buys planning or engineering services, it does not buy goods. It buys decisions. The fee for the planning is comparatively small next to the costs that arise later in construction and operation. Yet the decisions made in it work for decades.
The result of such a service cannot be compared like a product before the contract is awarded. Competing on price then mostly rewards tight calculation, not the better solution.
Where improvement is needed
1. The weighting. It is right that quality will count in future. But a floor of 30 percent still leaves room, arithmetically, for price to make up the larger part of the evaluation. For intellectual and creative services, quality must clearly prevail.
2. The criteria. Quality must not be a formality. The criteria need to be verifiable and relate to the service itself, for instance to the proposed solution and experience with comparable tasks.
3. Less bureaucracy. One rulebook instead of three only helps if it is not rebuilt through additional national requirements.
4. Fair competition. A European preference must not leave small and medium-sized offices with no real chance to bid.
What to watch
The European Economic and Social Committee is preparing an opinion on the proposal, and I am involved as one of the rapporteurs. The question for the coming months is whether Parliament and Council really give quality priority in the end, or whether price remains the deciding criterion through the back door.
Status: October 2026.