As the European Parliament prepares for the pivotal vote on the Public Procurement Report (2024/2103(INI)) in the IMCO Committee on 25–26 June, the Network for Sustainable Development in Public Procurement (NSDPP) is calling on Members of the European Parliament to support a procurement framework that places long-term value, fairness, and sustainability at its core.

The EU spends around 14% of its GDP on public procurement. How this money is spent profoundly shapes the social, environmental, and economic fabric of the Union. The current legislative revision offers a historic opportunity to address the persistent problems of race-to-the-bottom bidding, social dumping, and underuse of procurement as a strategic lever for sustainable development.

While the NSDPP welcomes many of the compromise amendments currently on the table. However, some others threaten to undermine this progress. The following letter outlines the amendments we encourage MEPs to support -and those we urge them to reject- structured around the network’s key priorities:

1. Ensure that the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) remains the default award criterion and is implemented instead of the "lowest price option";
2. Social and environmental criteria should become the default option when awarding public contracts;
3. Enhance social economy access to public procurement;
4. Mandatory social criteria should include collective bargaining and align with ILO convention;
5. Policy coherence;
6. Strengthen Member States’ and local authorities’ monitoring schemes;
7. Promote the autonomy of local and regional authorities.

About the NSDPP:

The Network for Sustainable Development in Public Procurement (NSDPP) is a group of social and environmental NGOs and trade union organisations (individual, confederal and EU federal) united by their joint aim to achieve progress in sustainable development through enabling EU public procurement legislation and policies.