Every year in the EU, over 250 000 public authorities spend around €2 trillion (around 13.6% of GDP) on the purchase of services, works and supplies. EU directives govern procurement contracts above certain thresholds to ensure the transparency of the procedures.
Notices of such contracts must be published on the European Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) portal. Notices of contracts below the EU thresholds are spread across the national or regional level in different formats, which makes them difficult or impossible to re-use. In other words, public procurement is rich in data but poor in making it work for taxpayers, policy makers and public buyers.
The Commission underlined the need to unlock this wealth of EU public procurement data in the European strategy for data, published in February 2020.
The launch of the Public Procurement Data Space (PPDS) took place on 24 September 2024, marking a significant step towards enhancing transparency and efficiency in public procurement across Europe. By leveraging advanced data analytics and digital tools, the PPDS aims to empower policy officers, public buyers and businesses and improve decision-making. The event brought together stakeholders from various sectors to explore the benefits and applications of this innovative space, highlighting Europe's commitment to a more open, competitive, and fair procurement landscape. Access the PPDS website.
The PPDS explained
The Public Procurement Data Space (PPDS) will connect European databases, including TED data on public procurement, and national procurement data sets available in national portals. The concrete implementation and expected benefits are further explained in the Commission communication published on 16 March. The PPDS was launched on 24 September 2024, and it is expected to be fully operational by 2025.
The development of a truly integrated space for public procurement data will require a collaborative effort at EU, national and at the level of all public buyers across the EU. The PPDS will consist of 4 layers
- Data sources layer: a federated network of connected data sources such as the European databases and procurement data sets available in national portals
- Integration layer: the eProcurement ontology as common data format to create a harmonised data set
- Analytics layer: capacities for data discovery, querying and data analysis to generate new insights, to make data-driven decisions and to set KPIs on priority policy areas
- Client layer: a user-friendly interface for the different users
Harnessing the power of public procurement data
The PPDS will be at the core of the digital transformation of public procurement in the EU. Public procurement data will help to
- facilitate access for companies and SMEs to public procurement procedures across the EU
- increase transparency, integrity and accountability of public spending, fighting corruption and collusion
- get better value for money through data-driven benchmarking, planning and purchasing
- help recovery from the pandemic by monitoring the use of EU funds
- target public funds towards policy priorities, ensuring wider uptake of social and sustainable procurement
- ensure access for companies and SMEs to public procurement procedures across the EU and foster competition
- decrease red tape through easier reporting for EU countries
- generate key insights for policy-making
Implementation in EU countries
The use of the PPDS is not mandatory. EU countries can connect their national data bases on a voluntary basis to gain access to the data and analytics of the PPDS.
Coordination and support
The Commission is supporting the implementation of the PPDS in EU countries through discussions in the Multi-stakeholder Expert Group on eProcurement (EXEP working group), dedicated PPDS workshops with EU countries and one-on-one eProcurement workshops discussing the PPDS amongst others.
EU funding
The building and operation of the central services of the PPDS is financially supported by the Digital Europe Programme and access will be free of charge for its users. EU countries will bear their own costs for digitalising their public procurement systems and connecting their data sources to the PPDS. However, financial and technical support is available through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and the Technical Support Instrument.