European Commission transforms public procurement across Europe with AWS and NTT Data

Public procurement—the process where public authorities like government departments or local councils purchase goods or services from companies—is a vital economic driver in Europe, accounting for more than 13 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). However, the data surrounding these procurement processes has traditionally been fragmented and difficult to access.

The challenge of fragmented, decentralized public procurement data

While public authorities in the European Union (EU) collectively spend around €2 trillion annually through procurement, the data from these processes is scattered across various formats and systems at the national, regional, and local levels. Only about 20 percent of the total procurement data is readily available and searchable at the EU level through the Tenders Electronic Daily (TED) portal. The remaining 80 percent is difficult to access and reuse, as it is spread across different national and regional portals with varying standards and formats, resulting in a lack of harmonization. This fragmentation also hinders gaining a comprehensive, EU-wide understanding of public procurement activity, trends, and insights that could drive more efficient, data-driven policymaking and public spending.

The power of centralized, high-quality data: Introducing the Public Procurement Data Space (PPDS) 

To address this challenge, the European Commission launched the Public Procurement Data Space (PPDS), a pioneering initiative to consolidate, harmonize, and facilitate access to public procurement data across the EU. Amazon Web Services (AWS) and AWS Partner NTT DATA have been selected to implement this project.

The PPDS uses AWS Cloud infrastructure and services to create an EU-level platform providing access to comprehensive, high-quality public procurement data.

• Amazon Elastic Container Service (Amazon ECS): Amazon ECS allows the various application components of PPDS to run as containers without having to worry about the complexities of orchestrating them. This simplifies the data space deployment and also allows the application to be packaged and deployed on any Docker-compatible container runtime out there.
• Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS): Amazon SQS allows the exchange of messages between the PPDS services to enhance their modularity and scalability.
• Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3): Amazon S3 acts as a secure, highly-scalable data storage before ingestion into the PPDS data model. Using Amazon S3 allows customers to store virtually unlimited number of objects in a secure, durable, and highly available manner.

How the PPDS works

The PPDS, as illustrated in Figure 1, offers solutions to integrate data from various sources, including the Publications Office (PO) and member states (MS).

Figure 1. Architectural diagram of the PPDS.

On the left side, various data providers supply information to the PPDS. This data is transformed into the eProcurement Ontology (ePO) and sorted in the PPDS Knowledge Graphs, which is at the center of the diagram. Here, the data is enriched with information from additional sources and can be linked to other data spaces. On the right side, there are data analytics, data quality tools, and other data consumption applications that utilize the enriched data from the PPDS Knowledge Graphs.

The PPDS offers robust data analysis capabilities, including advanced analytics tools equipped with a variety of dashboards and indicators for in-depth analysis, and self-service features. A data quality analysis tool is also available, enabling users to evaluate and ensure the integrity of their data. Other data consumption tools, such as a SPARQL querier, provide flexible and independent data consultation and visualization.

The PPDS features a web portal that grants access to various services and offers stakeholders information about the project, including methodologies used for computing indicators and other technical details.

Supporting the European public sector to increase transparency and transformation 

At the heart of the PPDS is the recognition that public procurement data requires a more collaborative, decentralized approach than a traditional centralized data platform. Rather than a siloed data repository, the PPDS is structured as a data space—a federated system that enables secure, interoperable data sharing while preserving each participant’s sovereignty over their information.

This data space model is crucial for empowering stakeholders across the European public sector. By allowing member states to contribute and access data on their own terms while still benefiting from harmonized, high-quality information, the PPDS fosters greater transparency, collaboration, and trust. The data space design ensures that all data remains under the control of its original provider, with enforceable policies governing its usage and access.

Consolidating this data in a standardized, well-governed format within the PPDS data space will increase data quality, availability, and completeness. The accessible data is projected to increase from 20 percent to 100 percent in the coming years, leading to the following outcomes:

• Policymakers gain critical insights to inform evidence-based decision-making around public procurement policy (for example, a policymaker in the field of green transition that would like to accurately assess how the procurement of green vehicles is done by public authorities).
• Public buyers have access to a comprehensive knowledge base to improve their procurement processes and outcomes.
• Businesses, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), benefit from better visibility and easier access to public procurement contracts across the EU, resulting in business growth.
• Service providers can use the PPDS data to create new value-added services (for example, a company that would like to offer a market research tool that uses procurement data from the PPDS).
• Researchers, journalists, and citizens gain unprecedented transparency in public spending.

PPDS as a path to data leadership

Looking ahead, the PPDS represents a significant step in the European Commission’s vision of establishing Europe as a global leader in the data economy. Indeed, connecting the PPDS to other data spaces will enable the generation of new use cases. For example, linking the PPDS with the European Health Data Space could help assess how procurement conditions for health products impact the performance of health systems and whether the selection methods for suppliers affect people’s lives. Through centralized, high-quality data and innovative cloud-based technologies, the PPDS is set to transform public procurement across the continent.

To learn more about the role of data spaces in enabling digital transformation in the European public sector, download the whitepaper co-authored by NTT DATA and AWS: The Power of Data Spaces for the Future of Digital Public Services. This whitepaper explores the motivations, challenges, and value propositions surrounding the adoption of data spaces, explaining their potential to revolutionize public service delivery, foster collaboration, and drive innovation.