In Lithuania, public procurement has a significant economic size and impact. For this reason, Lithuania recognises public procurement as a strategic tool to support broader policies and contribute to the country’s economic growth and recovery. Used strategically, public procurement can contribute significantly to addressing EU priorities (green transition and innovation), achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs), and “building back better” after the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and recent geopolitical shocks.
Promoting the use of public procurement to address global challenges such as climate change and support innovation is a top priority in Lithuania. In the National Progress Plan (2021-2030) adopted in 2020, the government of Lithuania set an ambitious 20% target for innovation procurement by 2030, with the interim goal of 5% by 2025. Starting in 2023, the government of Lithuania also set up a 100% target for green public procurement.
A sound and well-functioning public procurement system is essential to further promote its strategic use. To this end, Lithuania has been working with the European Commission and the OECD since 2017 to increase the efficiency and efficacy of its public procurement system in line with the 2015 OECD Recommendation on Public Procurement and international good practices. Building on this successful partnership, Lithuania enhanced further the centralisation and professionalisation of its public procurement system through reforms, including laws and regulations based on recommendations from the EU-funded public procurement reform project “Improvement of the Lithuanian public procurement system through professionalization of the national workforce and streamlining of R&D tendering” (2018-2019). Indeed, Building on these successes, Lithuania has ambitions to implement further reforms to move to the frontline of public procurement practices in Europe and the OECD.
This report provides Lithuania with recommendations and suggested actions to improve its public procurement system and promote the uptake of strategic procurement through centralisation and professionalisation. It is part of the project “Increasing efficiency in public procurement system of Lithuania through the implementation of centralisation and professionalisation reforms,” which was funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument and implemented by the OECD from September 2021 to September 2023, in co-operation with the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission.
The report was approved for publication by the OECD Working Party of the Leading Practitioners on Public Procurement (LPP) on 12 March 2024 and prepared for publication by the Secretariat.
The action was funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the OECD, in co-operation with the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission.