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EU Procurement Reform: What Is Changing, What Consultees Said, and What It Means for Scotland

February 2026

The EU is entering the final phase of a major reform of its public procurement regime, with a new legislative framework expected to replace the 2014 directives from 2027 onwards. The direction of travel is clear, with greater simplification, stronger sustainability and social value requirements, enhanced digitalisation, and measures to support European economic security. These developments are highly relevant for Scotland, which continues to operate an EU‑derived procurement system rather than adopting the UK Procurement Act 2023. As the EU modernises its rules and the rest of the UK moves in a different direction, Scotland faces important decisions about future alignment, competitiveness and the overall shape of its procurement landscape.

The EU procurement directives: where the reform stands now

The European Commission is in the final stages of a major overhaul of the EU public procurement regime. The existing directives, adopted in 2014, are now more than a decade old. The 2025 evaluation of the existing directives, adopted in 2014, highlighted persistent complexity, uneven uptake of strategic procurement, and declining competition in several markets. A full legislative proposal, informally referred to as the “Public Procurement Act”, is expected during 2026, with implementation across the EU from 2027 to 2028.

Three clear themes have driven the reform process.

• Simplification – Stakeholders across Europe consistently reported that procedures remain overly prescriptive and burdensome. The Commission has signalled a shift towards fewer, more flexible procedures and a clearer, more coherent code.
• Strategic outcomes – The reform aims to place sustainability, resilience, and social value at the centre of EU procurement policy. Expect mandatory or near mandatory green criteria in defined categories, wider use of life cycle costing, stricter exclusion grounds linked to labour and environmental compliance, and renewed emphasis on buyer professionalisation.
• European economic security – The Commission’s strategy includes an ambition to allow preference for European products in key sectors, subject to international trade rules. This is likely to appear in limited, targeted form rather than as a general origin preference.

Although the UK is no longer bound by EU law, the EU’s reform is highly relevant to any jurisdiction maintaining EU‑derived procurement rules. Scotland is one such jurisdiction. Scotland will now have a choice between keeping their system “as-is”, replicating the changes implemented at EU level or aligning more closely with the Procurement Act 2023, which was introduced in England and Wales, taking effect in 2025.

What consultees told the Commission

The EU’s consultation process concluded on 26 January 2026. The consultation responses give a broad picture of market sentiment across public bodies, businesses, SMEs, NGOs, unions and academics:

• Complexity remains the number one concern. Many respondents felt that the 2014 directives did not deliver the expected simplification. Buyers highlighted administrative cost and procedural rigidity. Suppliers, particularly SMEs, described barriers to participation and unnecessary paperwork.
• Strategic procurement is patchy. Public authorities tended to view the framework as supportive of green and social aims. Businesses were more sceptical, reporting limited use of non‑price criteria and insufficient clarity on how to evaluate sustainability in practice.
• Overuse of lowest‑price awards. Many respondents criticised the prevalence of price‑only evaluation. NGOs and unions called for mandatory quality criteria. Industry groups accepted the need for better balance but warned against rigid formulas.
• Digitalisation needs to go further. Respondents supported full end‑to‑end e‑procurement and better reuse of structured data. Many emphasised the benefits of interoperability, transparency and automated compliance checks.
• Supply chain integrity and subcontracting. Labour organisations raised concerns about long subcontracting chains and called for tighter controls. Business associations resisted blanket limits and preferred case‑by‑case discretion.
• European economic security. Views were split. Some respondents supported mechanisms that would protect EU supply chains in strategic sectors. Others warned of higher prices and potential conflicts with trade obligations.
• Overall, consultees agreed on the need for simplification, improved competition and stronger tools to deliver sustainability. They diverged on the degree of prescription the EU should impose.

The Commission is now evaluating the consultation responses. It is expected that a new proposal for legislation will be published in Q2 2026.

As part of its own reforms, the UK introduced a “debarment list”, a register of firms to which “grounds of exclusion” apply. Effectively, this is a supplier blacklist which public buyers must consult before deciding whether to admit suppliers into a tender process or award a public contact. It remains to be seen whether the Commission will follow the UK’s approach by establishing its own EU-level debarment list. Currently, some member states have no debarment list at all (Ireland, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Latvia), partial or sector‑specific lists (Malta, Sweden), or comprehensive public registers (Germany’s Wettbewerbsregister, Italy’s anti‑mafia systems and Spain’s ROLECE).

As of early 2026, no suppliers have yet been added to the UK government’s new debarment list created by the Procurement Act 2023. However, the threat of listing looms large over the supplier community and is an important spur for compliance.

The position in Scotland and what the reform could mean

It may not be immediately obvious how the EU’s reforms are linked to Scotland. Unlike England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Scottish devolved authorities did not adopt the UK Procurement Act 2023. Scottish contracting authorities continue to operate under the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015, the Utilities Regulations 2016 and the Concessions Regulations 2016, which are all based on the 2014 EU directives. Scotland has supplemented this framework with its own policy tools, including community benefit clauses and Fair Work requirements.

This creates three important implications.

i. Scotland’s regime is built on rules that the EU is now replacing

Once the EU finalises its new procurement framework, Scotland will effectively be operating a legacy system that no longer reflects best practice in either the EU or the rest of the UK. Areas most exposed to divergence include:

• strategic procurement criteria;
• flexibility of procedures;
• data and transparency requirements;
• integration of sustainability; and
• treatment of European origin goods in strategic sectors.

For suppliers active in Scotland and the EU, this creates a potential mismatch in expectations and compliance.

ii. Divergence within the UK raises practical challenges

Scottish suppliers bidding in the rest of the UK already must navigate the new UK Act. English or Welsh suppliers entering the Scottish market must switch back to the older EU‑style procedural framework. This dual regime increases training and compliance costs, particularly for SMEs.

Joint procurements between Scottish and UK authorities now require careful legal structuring to avoid conflicts between the regimes. While cross‑border regulations address some of these issues, the risk of complexity remains unless Scotland modernises its framework.

iii. Scotland faces a strategic policy choice

Scotland has three potential paths.

1. Maintain the current rules with incremental updates. This avoids legislative upheaval but risks leaving Scotland behind evolving best practice. It may also reduce competitive interest in Scottish tenders if suppliers perceive them as more complex.
2. Align with the forthcoming EU reforms. This would modernise Scottish procurement in a way that matches Scotland’s policy orientation towards sustainability, social value and European alignment. However, it may increase divergence from the rest of the UK, and some EU reforms may be difficult to adopt without EU‑wide systems.
3. Develop a new Scottish procurement statute drawing on both the UK Act and the new EU rules. This hybrid approach may offer Scotland the greatest flexibility. It allows Scotland to retain its unique policy features while adopting innovations such as simplified procedures, clearer exclusion grounds and enhanced transparency.

Each option carries strategic implications for suppliers, public bodies and Scotland’s broader economic and political positioning. Scotland may also move to consider whether it requires its own debarment list.

Scotland’s public procurement rules have undergone only incremental updates in the last 12–18 months, with no wholesale overhaul similar to the UK’s Procurement Act 2023. Key recent Scottish changes include updates to procurement financial thresholds (both routine biennial adjustments and a current consultation to raise certain statutory threshold values), technical amendments to align with new international trade agreements (affecting procurement procedures and transparency), and new regulations to clarify cross-border procurement with the rest of the UK.

This may indicate a preference for the first approach listed above. If the EU review identifies weaknesses in its current regime, that could be a spur towards more fundamental changes.

Key takeaways

The EU’s reform of the 2014 directives provides a timely opportunity for Scotland to reassess its procurement framework. EU reforms will focus on simplification, sustainability, competition and strategic resilience. Consultees have strongly endorsed these themes. Scotland now faces a choice between retaining its current EU‑derived rules, aligning with the next iteration of EU law, aligning with England & Wales in line with the Procurement Act 2023 or crafting a refreshed Scottish system that balances simplicity with policy ambition.

For Scottish contracting authorities and suppliers, the key message is forward planning. Monitoring developments in both Brussels and London will be essential. The direction of travel across both jurisdictions is clear; procurement is moving towards greater strategic impact, clearer transparency requirements and more flexible, digitally enabled processes. So far, there has been no immediate sign of an appetite to overhaul Scotland’s public buying rules but continued focus on the improvements to the regime based on the 2014 Directives. If the EU determines that the current system could benefit from fixes (and that is perhaps likely), Scotland may be expected to address those same issues in its own mirror regime.

If you have any questions regarding the information discussed in this article, please contact Paul Henty and Fraser Hopkins.

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