Public procurement

📑 Public procurement

Public procurement accounts for nearly one in every ten euros of Spain's GDP. The Independent Office for Regulation and Supervision of Procurement (OIReScon) and the European Commission's Single Market Scoreboard assess actual competition in public tenders each year: total volume awarded, how many contracts attract only a single bidder (a low-competition warning), how many are awarded without prior publication and the weight of minor contracts.

1. Annual public procurement volume

Following the 2020 slowdown and subsequent rollout of European Recovery Plan funds, the annual volume awarded across all public administrations (excluding VAT) reached 95.8 billion euros in 2024, spread across 186.3 thousand ordinary contracts and over 812 thousand registered minor contracts.

2. Effective competition: one-third of tenders receive a single bid

Public Sector Contracts Law 9/2017 sharply curtailed the use of negotiated procedures without prior publication (down to 2.4 % in 2024, after the temporary spike from emergency health procurement in 2020). However, the European Commission's primary warning indicator —the share of open tenders receiving only a single bid— remains around 34.5 %.

3. Who procures: regions and local councils account for three-quarters

Autonomous communities (40.8 % of volume) and local authorities (34.5 %) manage three out of every four euros tendered in Spain, while the central government represents 24.7 %.

Sources and methodology:

• Independent Office for Regulation and Supervision of Procurement (OIReScon) — Annual Public Procurement Supervision Report in Spain (national aggregate of the Public Sector Procurement Platform and regional platforms).
• European Commission — Single Market Scoreboard (Public Procurement).