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Public Procurement

Public procurement is the acquisition of goods and services on behalf of a public authority like a government agency, or other bodies such as hospitals and other healthcare providers. A large part of Europe’s medical technologies are purchased using procurement processes.

Posted on 31.08.2015

Public procurement is the acquisition of goods and services on behalf of a public authority like a government agency, or other bodies such as hospitals and other healthcare providers. A large part of Europe’s medical technologies are purchased using procurement processes. 

Public procurement is regulated at EU level and the latest update of the EU’s Public Procurement Directive, which came into force in April 2014, is currently being transposed. One of the key changes introduced by the revised directive is an increased focus on the MEAT (Most Economically Advantageous Tendering) criterion, which encourages public authorities to put more emphasis on quality, life-cycle costing, cost-effectiveness, and further societal benefits.

MedTech Europe and Procurement 
There are several challenges for the medtech industry regarding procurement processes, which tend to increasingly focus on price only and do not take into account the value of a medical technology. This is challenging for medtech companies, who are mainly SMEs and innovation-driven with rapid lifecycles.

MedTech Europe actively engages in many procurement initiatives. We are defining a specific approach for public procurement in the EU, which focuses on value-based procurement as the way forward for the most economically advantageous tendering.  

MedTech Europe is also promoting key principles for “smart procurement”, meaning procurement processes that recognise and reward innovation. Poor procurement processes risk endangering incentives to investments in new technology and could mean patients are denied the best available treatments. 

Procurement has an increased role to play to support the sustainability of healthcare systems while ensuring an optimal outcome for patients, institutions, health systems, the society and the economy. MedTech Europe and the Boston Consulting Group are currently working with procurement experts to develop such a framework for use in healthcare procurement. 

MedTech Europe is also actively engaged in international initiatives on innovative procurement.

More information:
Reflection paper: Key principles of Smart Procurement for medical device