Public Procurement Policy in the Implementation of the Digital Transformation Strategy: Priorities for the EU and for Ukraine

The aim of the article is to study the policy of public procurement and the scientific substantiation of its priorities in the context of the implementation of the digital transformation strategy in the EU and in Ukraine. The research methodology is based on the content analysis of the digitalization policy of public procurement used in the practice of both the EU and Ukraine, as well as in its scientific generalization to substantiate the priorities for the implementation of the digital transformation strategy. The authors examined the model of interaction of subjects of the public procurement market in the EU with the use of digital tools. It is found that the harmonized EU rules in the field of application of common digital public procurement instruments are designed to ensure fairness, transparency and non-discrimination in determining participants in public contracts, to which not only EU companies are admitted, but also the representatives of WTO Member States that have signed the Agreement on Government Procurement. The article discloses the stages of introduction of digital public procurement tools in the EU and in Ukraine. It is determined that in the EU, the process of digitalization of public procurement began in the second half of the 2000s with the introduction of an electronic diary of tenders, significantly intensifying in the second half of the 2010s with the adoption of a package of the EU directives in the field of public procurement and the phased introduction of digital tools (invoices, forms, applications for tenders, the European single procurement document, etc.). The current stage of transformation of digital public procurement tools in the EU was marked by the introduction of a single space for these public procurement in the EU from 2023. The priority directions of digital convergence of the public procurement systems of the EU and Ukraine are substantiated, including the development of cooperation tools for joint public procurement, promotion of competition, countering the corruption, as well as strengthening the professionalization of the public procurement systems.