DG REGIO Peer2Peer Public Procurement: another meeting in the framework of international cooperation

On August 18, another online meeting of the DG REGIO Public Procurement Group took place, attended by a CEUTP expert and approximately 70 representatives of institutions from other EU Member States involved in the management and control of EU projects.

The meeting began with an introduction of key participants, including representatives of DG REGIO, PwC, and the Community Champions – the group’s leaders who present topics selected jointly with the participants and define the group’s work directions.

The Community Champions are:

• Przemysław Ostrowski, representative of CEUTP (Control and Audit Department);
• Kristina Vasileva, representative of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior;
• Yasen Markov, representative of the Bulgarian Ministry of Transport and Communications;
• Antonija Ćurić, representative of the Croatian Audit Authority.

In the first part of the meeting, Przemysław Ostrowski from the CEUTP presented the latest case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union regarding public procurement, including Case C-568/24 (Sof Medica SA), concerning the description of the subject matter of the contract, and Case C-578/23 (Česká republika), concerning the award of contract through negotiated procedure without prior notice publication.

He then presented the latest publications and information appearing on the websites of institutions participating in the public procurement system, including:

• information on the activities of the National Appeals Chamber in Poland for 2025;
• the newsletter available on the European Commission’s website: “The Public Procurement Gazette Newsletter”;
• the annual report on the activities of ANAC (Autorità nazionale anticorruzione) for 2025, the institution responsible for the government procurement supervision framework and anti-corruption measures in Italy.

Przemysław Ostrowski also presented examples from the latest case law of the National Appeals Chamber in Poland regarding the participation of the economic operators from third countries in public procurement (KIO 1308/26 and KIO 1320/26 of May 5, 2026), as well as a judgment of an administrative court in Italy (TAR Roma, June 30, 2026, no. 11895), which concerned the possibility of relying on the capacities of a third-country entity in public procurement, while prohibiting automatic rejection of a bid.

In the next part of the meeting, Antonija Ćurić presented an unofficial draft Regulation that may soon replace the existing EU public procurement directives. She highlighted the key differences between the current system and the planned new legislation, including:

• a reduction in the number of procedures available to contracting authorities;
• requirements related to the use of qualitative criteria for evaluating bids;
• new rules regarding the exclusion of contractors and the participation of the economic operators from third countries in the EU public procurement system.

The final part of the meeting consisted of a group collaboration using the “Menti” tool to express participants’ opinions on the planned public procurement regulation, particularly regarding the uncertainties and risks associated with it, and its advantages and disadvantages as a planned uniform system, that is, a directly applicable EU legal act.

The event once again confirmed that the Peer2Peer initiative is an interactive, necessary, and dynamically developing platform for the exchange of knowledge and experience among public administration employees in the European Union. The growing number of meeting participants (over 70 people), the active exchange of knowledge and experience, numerous questions from participants, and the opportunity to share good practices, including in the area of ​​contractor certification in public procurement in Poland and Italy, confirm the validity of continuing the meetings. This stems from both the need for ongoing exchange of information on public procurement, ​​including case law, publications, and practical experience – and the need to continuously improve participants’ knowledge and competences.

It is also worth noting that materials from the meeting, including presentations, useful publications, legal acts, guides, and case law, are available on the website:

REGIO Peer2Peer Communities | Futurium

after creating an account and going to the group tab: Public Procurement.