Fewer contracts, higher value: the share of SMEs has increased

The number of procedures and concluded contracts decreased compared to the previous year, but the total value of public procurement increased by more than 16 percent, continuing the growth trend observed since 2023.

Based on the distribution of procurement items by number, half of public procurement contracts in 2025 were for goods. The proportion of service orders was close to 30 percent, while construction investments accounted for slightly more than one-fifth of public procurement. Examining the trends of the past five years, the share of goods procurements increased slightly, that of construction investments decreased, while the share of service orders remained stable overall.

1899 billion forints in the SME sector, single-bid public procurements stagnated

Small and medium-sized enterprises remained decisive players in the domestic public procurement market in 2025. During the year, SMEs were announced as winners in 11611 public procurement contracts, worth a total of 1899 billion forints. Although the number of contracts involving winning SMEs fell by 8.3 percent from the previous year’s figure (12,663), the total value associated with them increased by more than 20 percent.

“The rapid report clearly shows that the number of contracts won by SMEs has decreased, but it is still clear that they won 75 out of 100 public procurement contracts. In terms of value, this means that in 2025, out of every 100 forints spent in public procurement, 44 forints went to SMEs”

– highlighted Dr. László Kovács, President of the Public Procurement Authority.

As a result of measures to reduce the number of single-bid public procurements, the proportion of single-bid procedures in the EU procedural system has continuously decreased in recent years. However, it is important to emphasize that the development of this indicator cannot be solely the result of regulation; in certain markets, due to the natural limitations of competition, the low number of players or the strong specialization of activities, there is no further substantial room for maneuver to increase competition.

Based on the longer-term trends, it can be stated that the proportion of negotiated procedures without a notice has decreased significantly in recent years as a result of regulatory and control interventions, and the value of the indicator has now stabilized around the equilibrium level set by the market and control practice.

There are still more calls for completion than notices

The Public Procurement Authority places increased emphasis on the control of notices in order to ensure that they are published in accordance with the provisions of the legislation on public procurement and with coherent content within the given notice, while adhering to the prescribed deadlines.

In 2025, the Authority received a total of 21,811 notices related to public procurement procedures, and the Authority issued a total of 23,780 notices of deficiency correction in order to correct the errors identified in the notices. As a result of the strict and consistent monitoring practice, in 2025, the number of notices of deficiency correction exceeded the number of notices received by 9 percent, i.e. an average of 1.1 notices of deficiency correction were received per notice.