The EU's new procurement rules: what they mean for Norwegian suppliers

A draft of the EU's new procurement regulation has leaked, and has been covered by Reuters, Bloomberg, Euronews and MLex, among others. Official publication is expected on 9 September. We at Cobrief have worked our way through the 170-page draft, and here is what matters most if you sell to the public sector.

First a caveat: this is a draft. The content may change before the proposal is presented, and after that it goes into negotiations in the European Parliament and the Council. But the direction is clear, and for Norwegian suppliers it is largely good news.

From three directives to one regulation

Today, public procurement in Europe is governed by three directives from 2014, which each country has implemented in its own way. The Norwegian procurement rules build on these through the EEA Agreement.

The proposal replaces all three with a single regulation that applies uniformly across the EU. For suppliers bidding for contracts in several countries, that means one set of rules to deal with instead of 27 national variants.

Quality is to count for more than price

As a general rule, contracts are to be awarded on the best price-quality ratio. The draft sets a floor: quality criteria must account for at least 30 percent of the points, and at least 50 percent in labour-intensive contracts. Buyers may depart from the requirement where quality is secured through specifications or contract requirements.

In other words, it becomes harder to win on lowest price alone. For suppliers competing on quality, expertise and delivery capability, this is good news.

Every contract above 10,000 euros must be registered

The draft requires each country to establish a national procurement data space, a role Doffin could take in Norway. These data spaces will be connected to a shared data space at EU level.

The most interesting part is what goes into them: information on all contracts covered by the rules, with a value of at least 10,000 euros, around 110,000 kroner, must be registered within 20 days of contract signature. That also applies to purchases below today's threshold values, and to information about completed contracts.

How much of this becomes publicly available will be decided later, in implementing rules. The aim in the draft is nonetheless clear: more transparency about who buys what, from whom, and what the outcome was. If it succeeds, small purchases that are invisible today become visible, and suppliers get a far better basis for understanding the market. More open data means more players can take part. Cobrief helps suppliers find and respond to tenders, and with data like this we can simplify even more.

Stricter requirements for the systems behind procurement

E-procurement tools and other eProcurement services face new requirements: they must be established in the EEA, owned and controlled from the EEA without decisive third-country influence, and all procurement data must be stored in the EEA.

Norway is inside the EEA, so Norwegian-owned suppliers meet the ownership requirement. For system suppliers owned outside the EEA, on the other hand, this could have major consequences. The European Commission will also offer its own eProcurement service as open source.

Easier to take part

Several measures in the draft lower the barrier to submitting a bid:

• Submit documentation once. An electronic suitability service with digital company profiles is meant to let verified information be reused across competitions and countries.
• Tighter qualification requirements. Requirements are to be limited to what is necessary and proportionate. Excessive turnover requirements and unjustified demands for prior public sector experience are to be reined in. That opens the door for smaller and newer suppliers.
• Needs plans provide predictability. Public buyers are to publish a plan of upcoming procurements at the start of each budget period. Suppliers can therefore position themselves long before the competition is announced.

The procedures are being renewed as well. The standard procedure becomes an open procedure with negotiation, supplemented by a simplified procedure for repeat purchases of off-the-shelf goods and a dedicated procedure for innovation challenges.

A shift towards "Buy European"

The draft gives buyers new tools for favouring European suppliers. Bids may be rejected if less than half of the value originates in the EU or in countries covered by the EU's international agreements, and buyers may give such bids an advantage in the evaluation.

For Norwegian suppliers there are two things to note. The system requirements use the EEA as the boundary, and Norway is inside it. The preference rules use the term "covered" suppliers, defined as countries with a trade agreement with the EU or that are party to the WTO Agreement on Government Procurement. Norway is party to that agreement, which points towards Norwegian bidders counting as covered. The final delineation will nonetheless be one of the most important points to follow going forward.

What happens now

The proposal is scheduled to be presented on 9 September. After that come negotiations in the European Parliament and the Council, a process that normally takes several years. The draft envisages the regulation applying only two years after entry into force, and for Norway, incorporation into the EEA Agreement comes on top of that.

The changes are therefore some years away. But the direction is set: more transparency, more weight on quality, and a lower barrier to taking part. We are following the process and will update when the proposal is published in September.

Sources

• Reuters: "EU drafts 'Buy European' rules for public tenders to curb foreign dependence" (9 July 2026)
• Bloomberg: "Revamp of EU Public Procurement Rules Drives Made in Europe Push" (9 July 2026)
• Euronews: "Commission to tighten access to EU market as foreign interference concerns rise" (9 July 2026)
• MLex: "EU public-procurement revamp targets origin, green requirements in draft law"