GPA (Government Procurement Agreement, WTO)

The Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) is a plurilateral agreement under the World Trade Organization (WTO) that commits signatory countries to open their above-threshold public procurement markets to suppliers from all other GPA parties on a non-discriminatory basis. The EU is a signatory, making EU above-threshold contracts accessible to suppliers from other GPA countries.

What is the GPA?

The revised GPA (2014) covers 21 WTO members (representing 48 countries, including all EU member states, the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and others), with an estimated combined market of USD 1.7 trillion in annual government procurement. Each signatory party submits a schedule of covered entities and purchasing categories, along with the applicable thresholds above which GPA disciplines apply. For the EU, GPA coverage aligns closely with the EU Procurement Directives' above-threshold scope, meaning EU above-threshold contracts on ted are legally open to suppliers from all GPA parties. The GPA prohibits measures that discriminate against foreign suppliers from other parties, such as buy-national rules or domestic-preference margins in the evaluation.

The GPA does not cover defence procurement or contracts below the entity-specific thresholds. It also does not prevent preferences for developing countries under specific GPA provisions.

Why the GPA matters for bidders

For a non-EU supplier from a GPA country (such as a US, Canadian, Japanese, or UK firm), the GPA creates a legal right to participate in EU above-threshold procurement without discrimination. This means that a US firm bidding on a German federal ministry's IT services contract has the same legal access rights as a German firm, and the authority cannot prefer a domestic bidder on nationality grounds. The practical starting point is verifying that the specific buying entity and contract type are on the signatory's GPA schedule, since not all entities and not all purchasing categories are covered. The GPA's non-discrimination principle also underpins icb in MDB-financed projects, which generally require open competition among eligible member countries.

FAQ

Which countries are parties to the GPA?

The GPA currently covers 21 WTO members representing 48 countries, including the EU and its 27 member states, the United States, Japan, Canada, South Korea, the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Singapore, and others. The agreement is plurilateral, meaning not all WTO members have joined.

Does the GPA cover all types of government contracts?

No. Each party's coverage schedule specifies which entities, goods, services, and construction services are covered, and the thresholds above which GPA disciplines apply. Defence and security-sensitive contracts are typically excluded.

How does the GPA interact with the EU's own procurement rules?

The EU's above-threshold procurement directives largely implement GPA commitments for covered entities. Where the EU has made GPA commitments, its procurement rules must not discriminate against suppliers from other GPA parties, and the open-procedure is the mechanism that delivers this non-discrimination in practice.