Switzerland: The Revised Swiss Public Procurement Law: More Quality and Sustainability

Switzerland was the last signatory state to ratify the WTO-Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) of 2012. The implementation of the GPA was an important reform objective of the Swiss procurement revision, as was the harmonisation between the federal and cantonal procurement rules. The reform has manifested in a new Federal Act on Public Procurement (PPA), which entered into force on January 2021, and the adoption of the Intercantonal Agreement on Public Procurement (IAPP). To date, about ten of Switzerland’s 26 cantons have joined the IAPP. Important paradigms of the reform are competition based on quality, and the promotion of innovation and sustainable procurement. This report will explore whether the term‘paradigmshift’ captures the result of the reform in full extent. According to the government, the political intention is clear: with the reform, not only the law, but also the culture, of Swiss public procurement should change. See on the same topic also Marc Steiner, Kurzabriss zu Entstehungsgeschichte und Zwecksetzung des BöB vom 21. Juni 2019, in: Baurecht 2020, S. 8 ff.