‘How to procure a smart city district? The Re:Špitálka project’ (25/09/2023)
Interview with Lukáš Grůza, from the Department of Strategic Development and Cooperation of the Brno City Hall, Czech Republic. Mr. Grůza works as the project manager of the Smart District Špitálka and an evaluation specialist. Previously, he was responsible for coordinating Smart City activities across the city.
Sustainability and circularity as a starting point for ICT procurement - Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Netherlands (25/09/2023)
The Dutch government’s “Procurement with Impact” strategy aims to make ten business categories circular by 2023. As part of this initiative, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy initiated five public procurement procedures in 2021 to purchase all ICT hardware for the national offices and employees of the central government. The Ministry launched a pre-market consultation to identify which sustainability and circularity goals and requirements would produce an additional impact whilst being accepted by the market. The subsequent sustainability, circular and CSR goals were translated into specific tender requirements and award criteria.
Assessing green public procurement – report from the OECD (25/09/2023)
The 2023 edition of ‘Government at a Glance’ features a summary of the implementation of GPP in OECD countries. Data was collected through a 2022 Survey on Green Public Procurement which covered four pillars: policy and strategic framework, public-private interactions, evaluation of impact, and capacity building and support.
National framework contract for innovation in energy efficient public lighting - Consip Spa, Italy (25/09/2023)
In line with Italian municipalities' aims to enhance public lighting quality and energy efficiency, Consip SA, an Italian public company that operates as a central purchasing body, carried out a framework agreement for suppliers that could manage and maintain Italian public authorities’ public illumination and traffic light systems. The aim was to create a framework contract that consolidated services such as electricity supply, facility operations, lighting system maintenance, energy upgrades, and smart city features.
EU GPP Helpdesk Webinar (25/09/2023)
On the 27th of September, from 14:00 to 15:30 CEST, the next EU GPP Helpdesk webinar will take place on "How to acquire circular, nZEB and green building skills". During the webinar, expert presentations will be given and experiences from across European cities will be shared. Find out how public procurement can be used as a strategic tool to support the upgrading and retraining of the construction workforce.
Portugal: ECO360 (25/09/2023)
The ECO360 - National Strategy for GPP 2030 is a document that sets out the vision, objectives and key drivers for its implementation in Portugal. It promotes the inclusion of green criteria in public procurement procedures by entities under direct and indirect state administration, and the state's business sector. The strategy aims to see 50% of the country’s public administration bodies and public business sector adopt green criteria in their public procurement by 2025, rising to 90% by 2030.
Procura+ Conference (25/09/2023)
The Procura+ Conference invites public authorities to showcase their work on sustainable, innovation and circular procurement to over 250 attendees from Europe and the world. Interested organisations can do so by filling in the Call for Contributions by 6 October 2023. The Conference will take place in Lisbon from 13-14 March 2024. The call is open to all public authorities working with public procurement.
EU GPP Helpdesk Survey (25/09/2023)
The GPP Helpdesk has launched a short survey to gather feedback from our subscribers on both the News Alert in general and the case studies in particular. We want to hear about your experience with the news alert. Don't miss the opportunity to give us your feedback!
How to stimulate demand for circular construction skills through public procurement (27/06/2023)
Public procurers have an important role to play in the transition towards a more circular built environment. The EU-funded BUS Go-Circular project has developed a guide and training materials to help public procurers and policymakers better understand how they can leverage their purchasing power to stimulate demand for circular construction skills. Read this article to discover the seven actions that public procurers can take to boost circular construction skills.
A Better World Starts with Public Procurement (21/06/2023)
Interview with Fredo Schotanus, professor of Public Procurement at Utrecht University School of Economics (U.S.E) in the Netherlands. He is also co-founder of the Utrecht University Centre for Public Procurement (UUCePP) and is active as a principal consultant for Significant Synergy. He studies procurement that takes price, quality, people and the environment effectively and efficiently into account.
Including green criteria for window cleaning services (27/06/2023)
As part of the City of Copenhagen’s 2025 Climate Plan, the city has committed to including stricter demands for emission-free delivery in its goods and services contracts. In 2022, these requirements were applied to the procurement of window cleaning services for buildings under the jurisdiction of its Child and Youth Administration.
EU GPP Website Updated (27/06/2023)
The GPP Helpdesk page has a new look! The website has been updated and is now featured among DG Environment's Green Business initiatives. It hosts information on how to pose a query, voluntary GPP criteria, recent news, upcoming events and webinars, good practice case studies... and more. Discover the updated page here.
BBWT: Deadline extended (27/06/2023)
The Big Buyers Working Together project aims to support collaboration between public buyers across Europe to promote greater use of strategic public procurement for innovative and sustainable solutions. Don’t miss your opportunity to submit your recommendation through the Needs Assessment questionnaire (deadline extended). Based on the survey, 10 Communities of Practice will be defined.
EU GPP Helpdesk webinar (27/06/2023)
The 2nd EU GPP Helpdesk webinar of 2023 was held on the 15th of June on “How to choose the appropriate social clauses in tendering procedures”. During the webinar, experts and practitioners analysed the current use of social considerations in tenders, the most used types of social clauses and during which stage of the procurement cycle such criteria are applied. Don't miss to watch the recording of the seminar and read the presentations.
New Italian Code (27/06/2023)
A new Italian Public Contract Code and entered into force on 1 April. The code is part of a reform within the country’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The reform is focused on simplification of administrative processes, acceleration of awarding, execution and payment procedures, digitization and increased interoperability of platforms, and protection of workers and companies. Read the Sapiens Network’s review of the new code.
Procurement Dialogues (27/06/2023)
DG GROW has launched the initiative “Organisation of workshops in the 27 Member States to develop a dialogue on the use of strategic public procurement”.
The project, led by PwC and ICLEI Europe, brings together key stakeholders to provide input on national and European procurement policy objectives and creates synergies between Member States.
