Procurement Update
summary
Public procurement steers roughly €2 trillion per year (about 14% of EU GDP) and the pending EU procurement reform (proposal early 2026, adoption ~2027, member‑state implementation by ~2029) is a real chance to require publicly funded software to be free software. Practical proposals include procurement criteria measuring active upstream contributions, documented license compliance, community management and good documentation. Watch for pitfalls: openwashing of proprietary products and free riding by vendors, and for useful precedents like Italy’s purchase‑justification rule, Bulgaria’s free‑software‑first policy, Sweden/Switzerland guidelines, and Munich’s sponsorship model.
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chapters (14)
- 0:00Introduction and speaker introduction
- 0:25What is free software and FSFE
- 1:06Public Money Public Code initiative
- 2:10Public procurement as a political tool
- 3:13Vendor lock-in and digital sovereignty risks
- 4:16Current procurement law flaws
- 5:40EU procurement reform opportunity
- 7:27Misleading ‘Buy European’ narrative
- 8:54Free software first in EU Parliament
- 9:36Openwashing and freeriding threats
- 10:41Procurement criteria for free software
- 12:07Barriers for small developers
- 12:51Road ahead and timeline
- 13:55Call to action and closing
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