Procurement: EU-wide lot awarding strengthens craft businesses!

"Prioritising the division into lots is the door opener for craft businesses to win public contracts. The own-initiative report adopted today by the EU Parliament's Internal Market Committee (IMCO) should therefore be viewed positively. It significantly strengthens access to the public market for small and medium-sized craft businesses. It is the right decision that the division into lots should also become the rule in the EU in future.

However, it is crucial that the Commission really focuses on simplification and strengthening competition in its proposal for a revision of the EU public procurement directives planned for the end of 2026. Criteria such as mandatory collective bargaining agreements would lead to considerable additional work for contracting authorities and bidders and make hinder SMEs’ access to the public market.  

In its coalition agreement, the German government has also clearly committed itself to the goal of strengthening the participation opportunities of skilled crafts enterprises. The proposal currently under discussion at national level to restrict the national primacy of the division into specialised and partial lots would contradict this commitment."