Call for evidence
Eurelectric welcomes the opportunity to respond to the consultation and supports the objective of simplification. The electricity sector acts both as contracting entities (e.g. grids, publicly owned power producers) and as bidders for renewables for public entities.
Assessment:
For grid operators, procurement delays the speed of modernisation and expansion. For power producers, the rules are no longer fit for purpose, as energy markets are open and competitive with private and public actors partaking.
The sector seeks tailored and high-quality products, and procurement can take up to half of project timelines1. This is worsened by the sharp drop in average bids per tender, from 5.4 (2006–2010) to 3.4 (2017–2024), across sectors2. In addition, there is a general challenge with overlapping regulation.
Recommendations:
The sector’s transformation to enable electrification and decarbonisation requires doubling grid investments by 2050 and tripling power capacity by 2040. Access to adequate bidders and public tenders is therefore crucial.
Simplify and ensure adequate flexibility in procedures to meet the ambitious targets set by the European Commission and recognise the special character inherent to the power sector:
- Exempt electricity generation entities ab initio from public procurement requirements in directive 2014/25/EU through Article 9.2: Having regards that the electricity market design established a regulatory framework guaranteeing exposure to competition. This would entail both publicly and privately owned utilities would compete on similar conditions.
- Promote simplification and flexibility of rules: We recommend simplifying off-the-shelf purchasing rules, allowing negotiation throughout procedures, increasing flexibility in contract modifications and contract length, facilitating buyer collaboration, and enabling possibility of reusing bidder documentation. Moreover, promoting the use of innovative solutions by companies, where ICT products should be considered in the PPD rules on transferring intellectual property rights.
- Raise value thresholds in Article 15 of directive 2014/25/EU: to reduce the administrative burden on contracting authorities and companies, help more SMEs participate in tenders, and adjust to inflation, particularly considering the lowered thresholds from Jan 2026.
- Maintain the current public procurement framework (three directives), including existing Member State exemptions where they exist, to avoid increasing administrative burden. Although Article 34 allows exemptions, applications are too time-consuming and costly; procedures should be simplified. Considering the heterogeneity of procurement across Member States, it should be legislated through Directives.
Promote resilience, sustainability and security:
- Allow non-price criteria as a voluntary measure for promoting products and goods made with Europe, and environmental and social considerations in public procurement —while ensuring they remain easy to implement, suited to both suppliers and tenderers and do not cause disproportionate costs.
- Interconnect all existing eProcurement services, and provide a central service where organisations are able to utilise both: these services would help streamline and shorten the procurement process, and should be securely designed.
Assure consistency and avoid overlaps with other existing EU regulation:
- Assure coherence and resilience: provisions governing how procurement is conducted should be integrated into the PPD, with such rules removed from sector-specific legislation. We also propose that an overview be created in annex format in the tendering rules.
- Ensure consistent market access rules for non-EU countries by better coordinating with the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, providing clarity on necessary short-term purchases of non-EU products – without limiting contracting authorities’ discretion to define suitable origins on a case-by-case basis.