Leveraging the EU Public Procurement Data Space (PPDS)

Public procurement represents a significant share of EU countries’ economies, accounting for 15% of GDP on average. The pressure on public spending, as well as the need for more accountability, for monitoring the impact and achievements of public policies, and for better managing risks, make the need for more and qualitative procurement data more urgent.

In this context, the European Commission developed the Public Procurement Data Space (PPDS), a service that allows policy makers, public buyers, companies, and other stakeholders to access public procurement information both above and below EU thresholds, in an innovative, integrated and transparent way.

Joining the PPDS is voluntary but can help achieve several objectives: 

• Improve monitoring of public procurement in the EU;

• Reinforce transparency; 

• Support improving data quality;

• Raise awareness of the level of competition in public procurement; 

• Support greater cooperation between EU Member States and the EC;

• Support a data-driven approach for the revision of the legal framework. 

Only around 20% of public procurement data is currently accessible at the EU level, corresponding mainly to contract notices published on the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) platform for procedures above EU thresholds. 

The remaining 80% is fragmented across national systems. This limits the ability to conduct comprehensive comparative analysis and oversight at the European level and fully leverage the potential of procurement data to enhance competition, strengthen accountability, and improve policy making.

The way countries collect and process procurement data differs greatly. Connecting the national procurement systems from various countries requires mapping and harmonise data coming from different sources and formats, to ensure the relevance of the comparisons and analysis. 

Currently, four countries have successfully connected their national procurement databases to the PPDS (Austria, Finland, Germany and Norway). Its full potential  will be unlocked as more countries join this EU-wide initiative.

This project aims to support a second cohort of five countries – Cyprus, Italy, Latvia, Portugal and Slovakia – in this effort and lead the way for other EU Member States in the future.

The project -aligns with the EU competitiveness compass and the EU data strategy, which aims at unlocking the full potential of data for the European economy and society. By improving data availability and interoperability, it fosters a more integrated, competitive, fair, and green Europe. It will also support countries in achieving some of their commitments under their Resilience and Recovery Plans in terms of transparency, competition, digitalisation, and anti-corruption, as well as national commitments and priorities on data governance and policy evaluation. 

Finally, as public procurement is a key economic activity, this project could contribute to the economic and social resilience of countries. 

Beyond the five participating countries, the project will also benefit other EU Member States seeking to connect to the PPDS in the future by providing strategic guidance on developing an end-to-end data strategy, as well as technical deliverables and lessons learned serving as a foundation for future implementation.

The project involves peer learning, knowledge sharing and tailored guidance to support countries in joining the PPDS. It will result in the following outputs:

• Technical guidance and documentation on elements to join the PPDS

• Guidelines on end-to-end data strategy to join the PPDS

• An analytical report on procurement data quality assessment and improvements to join the PPDS 

• A closing event to share the results of the Project and to disseminate the results of the key activities carried out