NGOs urge public contracts reform to back local food chains

Portugal's government has approved a new Public Contracts Code, part of a wider state reform, alongside an EU review of public procurement directives. NGOs ACSA and ZERO say this is a rare opportunity to use public purchasing to strengthen local food systems, noting past support schemes for short food chains under rural development programmes were poorly implemented and mostly funded market buildings rather than real short-chain projects. The proposed changes raise thresholds for simplified contracting and give more weight to quality criteria. The organisations are calling on the government to ensure the reform actively promotes proximity food systems, citing benefits like fairer prices, circular economy gains and greater resilience.