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13.11.2019

OECD study shows unexploited potential in Germany’s public procurement

The German public procurement law reform that came into force in 2016 enables a more modern and flexible procurement practice in Germany. Nevertheless, important potentials fall by the wayside, the magazine C.ebra reports on the results of an OECD study.

An important recommendation of the study is to bundle the awarding of contracts in Germany more strongly. If the needs of different agencies are recorded centrally and contracts are awarded in a bundled manner, costs and bureaucracy are reduced. Germany also has some catching up to do in the area of digital procurement. In many other OECD countries, a much larger proportion of public procurement is digitally controlled.


Increasing digitalisation of public procurement and stronger networking of electronic procurement systems at federal, state and local level would have the advantage of making it easier to collect and compare data. This data could then be used to continuously optimise awarding practice. In addition, Germany should invest in the professionalization of its procurers. Many of them are generalists, lacking the specific training often required in this area.

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