Innovating within the law: for public procurement with impact

Public procurement is not just a procedure: it's industrial policy, it's better service for citizens, and it's a lever for sustainability. The European Union places this activity at around 16% of GDP, a figure that indicates we are facing a lever with the potential to transform the country.

For Spanish sustainable mobility companies—in areas such as the electrification of mobility or vehicle charging infrastructure—which are currently suffering from a lack of firm European and national commitment to the sector and the accompanying low demand, it is crucial to be able to test and sell their products. Public-private partnerships and public procurement with transparent and efficient criteria, such as carbon footprint calculations, that bring it closer to our industry—both European and Spanish—can have a much greater social and economic impact than many other measures.

At AEMES Smart – the ecosystem of companies focused on mobility, energy, and the sustainable environment – we see every day that well-focused public-private collaboration generates results: projects that arrive sooner, services that function better, technology that is deployed with guarantees, and skilled jobs that take root in the region. But we also detect recurring concerns among companies that want to participate in public projects: insufficient emphasis on quality and innovation, excessive deadlines and paperwork burdens, and difficulties in access for SMEs and start-upsand a certain disparity in criteria that discourages investment. These aren't theoretical debates; they are frictions that, when accumulated, reduce competitiveness and impact.

The good news is that we don't need to wait for a major legislative reform to improve. The current framework allows us to act with ambition and legal certainty. What do we propose? First, to better weigh what matters. If we want public value, technical and innovation criteria must have greater real weight in the awarding of contracts. Evaluating quality, maintenance, environmental results (CO₂, energy, circularity), and economic and social impact is not an additional burden; it's efficiency. As simple as giving more weight to the carbon footprint of a good, it can boost opportunities for nearby producing industries.

We must open the door to those who contribute. Dividing contracts into smaller lots, proportional solvency, and simplifying procedures are key for SMEs and start-ups so they can truly compete. Major technological transformations often originate in small teams; the system must be able to capture this innovation and scale it.

We must also shorten procedural timelines to avoid price increases (which must be reviewed when the context is changing, as it is now) and other circumstantial changes that harm both the winning bidder and the bidder, such as technological obsolescence. And we must collaborate before bidding. Instruments such as public procurement of innovation, competitive dialogue, and innovation partnerships help to better define the challenge and the specifications. Transparency in these processes prevents hidden auctions, reduces risks, and aligns expectations. Innovating within the law is possible—and necessary.

Let's not forget the need for greater agility and data. It is necessary to digitize the entire procurement cycle and establish dashboards that measure deadlines, incidents, and service results. Transparency is the foundation for standardizing criteria, reducing appeals, and building trust with suppliers and the public.

Finally, we propose making public procurement an industrial policy. When tender specifications demand quality and results, private investment is stimulated, the value chain is mobilized, and green jobs are created. This is how public spending becomes an engine of sustainable and competitive industrialization.

This is the purpose of our SmartVision Paper #5 and the call we are making to public administrations and businesses: more ambition, more clarity, and more efficiency. What we are asking for is not complicated: smarter criteria, simpler processes, and shared workspaces. AEMES Smart is promoting stable collaboration frameworks, a catalog of best practices, and, soon, awards for impactful public procurement to give visibility to those who are leading the way and to facilitate the replication of successful solutions.

We are on the verge of a clearer, more innovative, and more efficient public procurement system, capable of accelerating the ecological and digital transition and making Catalan and Spanish businesses competitive players on a European scale. Let's be clear: sustainability isn't a future challenge, it's a present opportunity. And public procurement is a tool to make it a reality.

We should be able to say it loud and clear: we must bring our industry closer to the opportunities of public procurement, and in doing so, we will also help public procurement become more innovative and efficient, and have a real impact.