“German Armed Forces Need More Centralization and Greater Flexibility When Purchasing”

The German government has agreed that the German Armed Forces must be modernised quickly to fulfil both its NATO and legal obligations. Accordingly, the German Bundestag provided additional funds worth 100 billion euros solely to be spent on military equipment and assets. Minister of Defence Christine Lambrecht has made out two bottlenecks in that regard: mandatory EU-wide tenders are time-consuming and internal procurement processes are too bureaucratic. ZEW procurement specialist Leonardo Maria Giuffrida, head of the ZEW Junior Research Group “Public Procurement" advises:

“As national security interests cannot always override EU-wide procurement policies, the German Armed Forces should concentrate on two things: Firstly, procurement should be pooled centrally with the most competent and experienced contracting office of the Bundeswehr. This allows access to the largest possible number of suppliers, increases buyer power, and maximises the benefit of competence. And secondly, contracting officers should be given greater flexibility in the selection process by using past performance metrics or a sole source in case the buyer already knows experienced suppliers with a high reputation for specific products.”