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Management of sustainable procurements at municipal level
Published on 12 July 2021
Finland
Länsi-Suomi
This is the good practice's implementation level. It can be national, regional or local.
About this good practice
City of Pori has developed its public procurement practises long-term, although policy agenda has omitted practical functionalisation. Policy agenda, divided into different procurement categories, was formulated via cross-organisational working group. Management system involves operative expertise unit, which analyses and observes the effect of procurements, total amount of 350m€. KEINO-academy facilitated development of improved impact assessments, e.g. for environmental responsibility and resource efficiency. Real-time tendering calendar and a procurement tool with LCA and LCC involvement is being developed.
Expert opinion
This good practice from the city of Pori in Finland shows how a municipality can make progress towards greening its procurement process. It establishes inside the administration a single operating unit with knowledge to monitor and functionalise sustainable procurements staffed with trained civil servants. These receive also external support from the KEINO competence centre. The added value of teaching civil servants how to use LCA and LCC is an important step towards GPP as it provides a better base to compare offers and dictates criteria to write into the tenders. Well-trained and competent procurement units are confident and dare use GPP, a measure that is under-used EU-wide so far, mainly due to insecurity amongst the tendering and purchasing units of public bodies.
Instilling this competence in a central purchasing unit is a transferable good practice and good advice for municiapalities Europe-wide.
This good practice is directly linked to another one called "KEINO Academy for sustainable procurement management".
Instilling this competence in a central purchasing unit is a transferable good practice and good advice for municiapalities Europe-wide.
This good practice is directly linked to another one called "KEINO Academy for sustainable procurement management".
Works at
Interreg Europe Policy Learning Platform
Resources needed
Two persons for years 2018-2021
Evidence of success
Municipal policy for sustainable public procurement is a multi-faceted process, and Pori has successfully been able to organise the system by identifying weak points, establishing single operating unit with knowledge to monitor and functionalise sustainable procurements. Societal impact assessment is evaluated by LCA and LCC tools. Nomination of category-special personnel and centralization of procuring is helping to reach goals.
Potential for learning or transfer
The development of municipal management of sustainable procurements is a continuous process. By clear determination of strategic focus points, centralised tendering unit with educated persons show potential for well operating, sustainable procurements. By well-developed regional networking procurement process has become efficient, and environmentally and resource efficiently positive impacts have been reached. KEINO-academy was launched to help municipalities to improve their procuring process by providing proper tools for LCA and LCC calculations at municipal level.
Further information
Website
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.
Organisation
City of Pori
Finland
Länsi-Suomi
Contact
circular economy specialist