Public money at risk: why Malta's procurement laws must change

09 February 2026

Public procurement is the riskiest and most common area of abuse and corruption. We analysed Malta’s public procurement legislation to identify systemic weaknesses and propose reforms. Our analysis was submitted to Transparency International which is collating information from chapters across the EU to propose reforms of the EU’s public procurement directives.

The EU’s current revision process is aimed at shifting emphasis to European products in public procurement, and updating and simplifying procurement rules. The process is an opportunity to update legislation across the EU for greater transparency and fair competition, ensuring that public money is well spent. Changes made at EU level will be binding on all member states, including Malta.

Read our full analysis of Malta’s legislation here. The following is a summary of the key legislative changes we think Malta needs.

  1. An appropriate e-procurement platform for public contracts of all types: direct orders, public tender, negotiated procedure, or any other mechanism. The current system of publication in Malta’s Government Gazette is inadequate.
  2. A legal means to challenge public contracts awarded by direct order. Currently, this is possible only for public procurement tenders, and then only for direct competitors in the same field. This legal remedy should be accessible to suppliers, and also to CSOs and affected communities.
  3. A legal cap on the number of contracts granted to a particular supplier or company during one calendar year. This avoids abuse of the current system where a large contract is split into multiple smaller direct orders, rather than being put to tender.
  4. Effective rules on lobbying and, especially, political financing. Public procurement legislation does not exist in a vacuum. The few existing regulations on the financing of political parties in Malta are unenforced, enabling a persistent pay-to-play market.
  5. The creation of the role of Commissioner for Public Procurement to enable competitors, as well CSOs and affected communities, to challenge the award of public contracts. This would streamline the complaints process. The Commissioner should be empowered to review complaints about direct orders as well as public tenders.