Public procurement is a major economic activity that has undergone significant changes across economic, financial, social, and technological dimensions over the past five years. The COVID-19 crisis disrupted global supply chains, underscoring the need for agile procurement systems to ensure public service delivery, economic resilience, public safety, and citizens’ well-being. Emerging technologies are transforming procurement processes, enhancing efficiency, transparency, and accountability, while raising ethical and governance challenges. This transformation also has an impact on the delivery of public services, given the key role of public procurement in this area.
Public procurement is recognised as a strategic lever for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. OECD research has revealed public scepticism about governments’ ability to address complex challenges such as climate change and artificial intelligence (AI), reinforcing the need for robust public integrity frameworks to rebuild trust in institutions.
The 2015 OECD Recommendation of the Council on Public Procurement emphasises the critical role of public procurement governance in achieving efficiency, delivering and ensuring satisfaction with high-quality public services, and advancing public policy objectives throughout all stages of the procurement cycle. The Recommendation was developed by the Working Party of the Leading Practitioners on Public Procurement (LPP) under the purview of the Public Governance Committee (PGC) and adopted by the OECD Council in February 2015.
A first report on the implementation of the Recommendation was submitted to the Council in 2019, assessing progress of Adherents in implementing the provisions of the Recommendation between 2015 and 2018. It concluded that Adherents had made significant progress in implementing the Recommendation’s provisions but identified areas where further work could be done to improve implementation.
This second report reviews progress achieved since the publication of the 2019 report, while identifying key areas for further action to ensure Adherents continue to strengthen their public procurement systems and equip them for future challenges. It draws on the Survey on Public Procurement carried out in 2024 in 35 Adherents and 5 non-Adherents. It highlights Adherents’ efforts over the period 2018-2024 to implement the Recommendation in an evolving context, marked by rapid digital transformation, economic, and social challenges, and the disruptive impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on global supply chains and geopolitical tensions. Among others, these developments have highlighted the need for resilient procurement systems, effective risk management, enhanced transparency and accountability, and strategies to maximise public procurement’s contribution to achieve multiple objectives, including sustainable development goals.
This publication reproduces in part the Report on the Implementation of the OECD Recommendation on Public Procurement, which was approved by the OECD Public Governance Committee on 17 June 2025 via written procedure and declassified by the Council of the OECD on 27 June 2025 by written procedure.