Today’s publication of the European Commission’s proposal for a Public Procurement Act marks an important step towards modernising public procurement across the European Union.   

By putting greater emphasis on quality, innovation, sustainability and resilience, the proposal can help improve patient access, support pharmaceutical innovation and strengthen Europe's security of supply.    

EFPIA supports the move towards making the Best Price-Quality Ratio (BPQR) the default award methodology, and stronger innovation-friendly procurement tools. This represents an important shift away from procurement decisions driven primarily by the lowest price. 

Price-only procurement should be limited to clearly defined, exceptional circumstances, ensuring that quality and value are consistently recognised across Member States. 

The proposal also generally preserves non-discriminatory access for suppliers from countries covered by the EU’s international procurement commitments. This is important: resilience should not be equated with localisation. Europe’s security of supply depends on strong, reliable and globally integrated pharmaceutical supply chains, including cooperation with trusted international partners. 

Any localisation related criteria should therefore remain exceptional, proportionate and non-discriminatory. Rigid geographical preferences or numerical localisation thresholds risk restricting competition and weakening, rather than strengthening, security of supply. As public buyers retain discretion in the design and application of resilience and sustainability criteria, clear safeguards will be essential to ensure that these remain proportionate, evidence-based and non-discriminatory and do not become direct or indirect localisation requirements.

Overall, the proposal provides an opportunity to use public procurement more strategically to deliver better outcomes for patients, reward innovation and strengthen Europe’s resilience and competitiveness. 

Nathalie Moll said: “Public procurement should reward value, rather than simply identifying the cheapest option. The Commission's proposal is an important step towards recognising quality, innovation and resilience as central to procurement decisions which will ultimately benefit European patients.  

As the proposal is considered by the European Parliament and the Council, it will be important to ensure these principles can be consistently applied across Member States while avoiding localisation requirements that restrict competition or undermine resilient supply chains.   

If Europe wants to be globally competitive in life sciences, it needs not only a world-class research ecosystem, but also market conditions that recognise and reward innovation and value - public procurement has an important role to play in achieving this.”