On 9 September 2026 the European Commission put forward a proposal for a single Regulation on public contracts and concessions. If it is adopted, it will repeal all three of the 2014 Directives on which the present system rests: the general public procurement Directive, the one covering utilities in the water, energy, transport and postal sectors, and the one on concessions.

Two qualifications are needed at the outset. This is a proposal, already before the European Parliament and the Council, and the text finally adopted may well differ from the one published. Moreover, the Regulation itself provides that it will begin to apply two years after it enters into force, which means that in practice it will govern tenders launched from 2030 onwards. We consider, nonetheless, that it is worth attention now.

From Directive to Regulation

We note first that the EU is bringing forward the new framework as a Regulation rather than as Directives, which had been its established practice for many years. That means it is claiming a more interventionist role, and imposing tighter control and a narrower margin for Member States to adapt the law of public procurement to their own national realities. In substance, the EU is imposing the new rules uniformly.

In practical terms, once the new Regulation is adopted and published, the Cypriot laws that transposed the 2014 Directives — Law 73(I)/2016 on public contracts, Law 140(I)/2016 on utilities and Law 11(I)/2017 on concessions — will, to the extent that they simply reproduce the European text, cease to have a subject. Anyone wanting to know the rule will no longer open the Cypriot law; they will open the European text. And the same text, in the same words, will apply in Cyprus exactly as it applies in every other European country.

Defence and security contracts are an exception: they remain outside the scope and continue to be governed by a separate Directive and, in Cyprus, by Law 173(I)/2011.

For a small market this cuts both ways. Local peculiarities that make participation awkward for foreign bidders disappear, and conversely the Cypriot contractor bidding for work in another Member State meets a familiar framework. At the same time, the Republic’s room to adapt the rules to the scale of its own market narrows.

What does not change

The recourse to the Tenders Review Authority

A disappointed bidder’s right to challenge a decision of a contracting authority does not derive from the 2014 Directives. It derives from two earlier Directives on review procedures, which the proposed Regulation does not repeal. In Cyprus they are given effect by Law 104(I)/2010.

The distinction matters: the route to the Tenders Review Authority does not change, but the substantive law the Authority applies does.

Tenders below the thresholds

The European rules apply only to contracts above certain financial thresholds. Below them, the Member State regulates as it sees fit, subject to the general principles of equal treatment and transparency. The proposal preserves that logic, which is of particular importance for Cyprus, where a large share of the tenders put out to the market falls below the thresholds.

What genuinely changes

Quality ceases to be an optional criterion

Award on lowest price alone is, today, more or less the standard practice of contracting authorities in Cyprus. The proposed Regulation, however, makes the “best price-quality ratio” the general rule, with a minimum weighting of 30% for quality criteria. For contracts that are by their nature labour-intensive the figure rises to 50%, a weighting intended to capture meaningful social considerations as well.

A contracting authority may depart from this, but not at large: only where quality can be secured through the technical specifications, through the conditions of performance of the contract, or through a combination of these, and it must state which of those routes it relies on.

If this provision survives in its present form, it will in practice be the largest departure from the existing framework for Cyprus.

It plainly concerns contracting authorities and bidders alike, since the way quality criteria are documented will change and will be examined more strictly.

It will also weigh heavily on bidders who compete systematically on price, since a compulsory weighting will now attach to the quality of what they do.

Limits on the conditions of participation

At the same time, participation itself becomes significantly easier, because turnover requirements are curtailed. Specifically, the minimum turnover that may be required must not exceed 50% of the estimated annual contract value, save in duly justified cases. Requiring prior experience specifically of public contracts is permitted only where strictly justified by the complexity or the nature of the subject matter.

This is a deliberate measure in favour of smaller businesses and new entrants, who today are often excluded not because they cannot perform the contract, but because they have never worked for the public sector and cannot demonstrate sufficient experience — with the result that they are frequently driven into consortia with more experienced bidders, whether individuals or companies.

Fewer procedures

A further innovation concerns the simplification of the present framework: in place of the current list, only three main procedures are proposed — (a) an open procedure; (b) a dynamic procedure, in which operators sign up once and are then invited to tender for individual contracts as these arise; and (c) a dedicated innovation procedure, for the development and acquisition of innovative solutions answering a societal challenge.

Negotiation is available in all three, subject to safeguards of transparency and equal treatment.

Digital infrastructure and documents submitted once

The most welcome provision, in our view, concerns the interconnection of national electronic procurement systems and the creation of an electronic eligibility service, so that an operator’s certificates are drawn automatically from official sources rather than assembled afresh for every tender.

European preference

An express framework for European preference is also introduced. In defined circumstances, contracting authorities will be able to restrict participation to, or give an advantage to, tenders of Union origin.

That framework codifies recent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, to the effect that operators from third countries not covered by an international agreement derive no rights from EU procurement law.

Conclusion

The new Regulation has not yet been adopted: the proposal is before the European Parliament and the Council and, even once adopted, two years will pass before it begins to apply. Tenders now running, and those to be launched over the next few years, will therefore not be affected by these changes.

The EU has nonetheless made plain the direction it intends to give to public procurement, and that direction changes the form of the law itself: from a national statute incorporating European choices, to a European text applying directly and sharply narrowing each Member State’s ability to tailor it to its own circumstances.

For those who tender regularly, the real preparation is commercial rather than legal: how the quality of a bid is evidenced once price alone no longer suffices. That is not something adjusted in a month.

Need an assessment?

Every case turns on its own facts and on the documents behind them. For an initial assessment of your position, you are welcome to contact the Firm at info@topouzislegal.com.

This article is provided for general information only and does not constitute legal advice on any specific matter.