Small and medium-sized enterprises, lots, innovation and digitalisation in the European Parliament resolution on public procurement

Participation by small and medium-sized enterprises, start-ups and innovative operators in public procurement remains below their real weight in the European economy. Resolution P10_TA(2025)0174 of the European Parliament tackles this problem across several thematic blocks: from a mandatory SME impact test to the systematic division of contracts into lots, by way of a digital-first approach and the general admission of tender variants.

Administrative burdens as a barrier to entry

Recital J of the resolution sets out the starting figure: direct cross-border procurement accounts for barely 5 % of public contracts in the European Union. Fragmentation across member states, the documentary burden and regulatory complexity are the causes usually identified.

Paragraph 53 sets the quantitative target:

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Priority given by the Commission to reducing the burden of legally required reporting requirements by 25 % for companies in general and by 35 % for SMEs.

These figures correspond to the administrative burden reduction package that the Commission has been applying across single market legislation as a whole. Projected onto public procurement, meeting them requires a review of the European Single Procurement Document (ESPD), the eCertis platform and the electronic forms used in notices.

Mandatory SME impact test

Paragraph 77 calls for the following:

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Reducing the bureaucratic restrictions that disproportionately affect the participation of SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups, and the Commission carrying out adequate impact assessments and a mandatory test for SMEs and start-ups on each and every new rule.

In operational terms, every new procurement rule, including national transpositions and implementing regulations, will have to pass a specific SME impact filter before being adopted. This is a standard obligation under the European better regulation principles, although its application in the field of public procurement has so far been uneven.

Systematic division into lots

Paragraph 79 returns to a classic mechanism, the division into lots provided for in article 46 of Directive 2014/24/EU and in article 99 of Ley 9/2017 (the Spanish Public Sector Contracts Act), and calls for it to be strengthened:

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Consider integrating the division of contracts into smaller lots in order to foster competition and avoid dominance by large entities. This division into smaller lots is of particular importance for engineering, construction and planning services.

The express reference to those services bears directly on how studies, design projects and works supervision contracts are structured. Grouping hundreds of kilometres of network or dozens of buildings into a single large lot is incompatible with the mandate to open up the market to technical SMEs that Parliament sets out.

Tender variants: reversing the rule

Paragraph 83 proposes a technical change with far-reaching effects. At present, under article 45(1) of Directive 2014/24/EU, the contracting authority must expressly authorise the submission of variants in the procurement documents for them to be admissible. The resolution proposes reversing the rule:

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Calls for tender variants to be allowed as a general rule, unless the contracting authority expressly opts out.

The technical implication is considerable. If the future directive incorporates this reversal, SMEs and innovative operators will be able to propose technical alternatives without the procurement documents having to authorise them expressly. The contracting authority will be obliged to assess beforehand whether it wishes to close off that route and, if so, to justify the decision in the file.

Innovation: a specific procurement regime

Paragraph 88 notes that the current rules on innovation-oriented procurement (provided for in article 31 of Directive 2014/24/EU on innovation partnerships and in articles 73 to 77 of Ley 9/2017) are underused:

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Calls for an assessment of the need to establish additional special public procurement rules for research and innovation projects in the scientific field.

That assessment may give rise to a specific regime for the public procurement of research and development, with procedures adapted to the technical risk and the maturation timescales typical of innovation. Sectors such as defence, energy and health are potential beneficiaries of a reform of that nature.

Digitalisation: a digital-first approach

Paragraphs 28 to 35 build the digital ambition of the reform. Paragraph 29 is its most telling formulation:

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Calls for a "digital-first" approach, moving from an outdated notice-based system to a transaction-based system.

In practical terms, the proposal means:

• Moving from a notice-based system to a transaction-based system: instead of publishing successive notices (prior information, call for tenders, award and modifications), the full cycle would be managed as structured transactions on an interoperable platform.
• Reducing the number of electronic forms and better integration of the European Single Procurement Document and the eCertis platform.
• European Public Procurement Data Space (paragraph 30): a common layer of tender data that is open, interoperable and comparable between member states.
• Digital passport for SMEs (paragraph 30): identity and credentials reusable in any procedure across the Union, with no need to submit the same documentation again and again.

Subcontracting and the supply chain

Paragraphs 86 and 91 address subcontracting.

Paragraph 86 calls for an assessment of the impact of requiring the successful tenderer to have its own resources, with a clearly defined regime of joint and several liability between the main operator and its subcontractors. Paragraph 91 calls for wider use of the direct payment to subcontractors provided for in article 71(3) of Directive 2014/24/EU, an instrument that helps mitigate chronic late payment in the supply chain.

Updating the thresholds

Paragraph 22 calls for the European thresholds to be updated, having remained practically unchanged since 1994 (recital G):

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Strong demand for public procurement thresholds to be updated in the light of the significant increase in inflation and construction costs in the Union. Calls on the Commission to assess the possibilities of advocating an increase in thresholds at international level and to introduce a mechanism that takes inflation rates into account.

The practical effect of any rise in the thresholds would be that a larger number of contracts would fall outside the harmonised scope of the directive and would instead be governed by national rules, with more room for simplification in lower-value procedures.

Operational conclusion

The resolution has no legally binding force, but it clearly sets out five lines of work aimed at improving market access:

1. Mandatory SME impact test and a 35 % reduction in the administrative burdens affecting them.
2. Division into smaller lots as a general rule, especially in engineering services.
3. Admission of tender variants as a general rule, unless the contracting authority expressly excludes them.
4. A specific procurement regime for research and innovation projects.
5. A common European digital architecture, built around the European Data Space and the digital passport for SMEs.

A small consultancy or engineering firm setting its tendering strategy for the next three to five years has here a concrete map of the opportunities that will open up once the new directive is adopted.

Fuentes oficiales

Resolution P10_TA(2025)0174 - EUR-Lex

DO C/2026/1470 · 9 abril 2026

Adopted text, Spanish version

Parlamento Europeo

Directive 2014/24/EU - articles 31, 45, 46 and 71

UE

CNMC guide on the preparation and design of public tender procedures (G-2023-01)

CNMC · Abril 2025