The winners of the 2021 Procura+ Awards were announced on 23 November in a virtual awards ceremony, live streamed on YouTube. The Province of Zeeland in the Netherlands won in the category “Procurement Initiative of the Year", while the cities of Copenhagen and Odense (Denmark) won “Sustainable Procurement of the Year”. The categories “Innovation Procurement of the Year” and “Outstanding Innovation Procurement in ICT" both saw Spanish winners: Santiago de Compostela City Council and Murcia Health Services, respectively.
The Province of Zeeland won “The Procurement Initiative of the Year” for its commitment to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with each purchase it makes in the period 2021-2024. Based on existing policy goals, ability to monitor progress, and in alignment with local initiatives, this work focuses on seven SDGs. For each of these seven goals, concrete impact targets were embedded in the province's Sustainable Procurement Plan 2021-2024, and monitored results will be shared on their sustainable procurement platform.
“Sustainable Procurement of the Year” winners Copenhagen & Odense also used the SDGs as a guide. Copenhagen applied an SDG tool developed by the City of Odense to help suppliers identify the SDGs they are contributing to during market dialogue exercises, and to provide a framework for tenders. The city used this tool to introduce further social and environmental considerations into its food procurement.
Santiago de Compostela City Council won “Innovation Procurement of the Year” for using innovation procurement to develop innovative solutions to improve services to citizens, while respecting the complex and specific needs encountered as a World Heritage City. Three challenges in particular were identified: municipal solid waste (MSW) management, last mile logistic services, and ornamental lighting solutions which enhance the value of heritage while saving energy.
Finally, in the category “Outstanding Procurement in ICT”, the winner was Murcia Health Service. Murcia was part of the European project InDemand which brought together procurers from three different regions to a new co-creation model (InDemand) to improve communication between doctors and epilepsy patients. Murcia Health Services led one of the 22 innovation projects that have tested this model, leading to a 50% increase in patient satisfaction and a quality of life improvement of 2.5 points.
During the ceremony the finalists in each four categories were also acknowledged. These were as follows:
- “Procurement Initiative of the Year” - the City of Helsinki (Finland) – ICLEI Member (Towards carbon neutral municipalities and regions using carbon footprint criteria to promote sustainable public procurement),
- “Sustainable Procurement of the Year” – Dinan Agglomeration (France) (Low environmental impact cleaning services)
- “Innovation Procurement of the Year” – Supreme Audit Office City of Prague (Czech Republic) (Building net-zero energy innovation through procurement in construction in the centre of Prague)
- “Outstanding Innovation Procurement in ICT” – Barcelona Provincial Council (Spain) (Procurement of innovation to improve telecare services)
In the category “Sustainable Procurement of the Year”, there was also an honorable mention for the South Moravian Region (Czech Republic) identifying the need to build a new sanitarium for children with respiratory diseases challenged the market to be as aesthetic, user-friendly, and energy-efficient as possible.
The jury for this years’ Procura+ Awards comprised of Katharina Knapton-Vierlich, Head of Unit, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, European Commission; Erika Bozzay, Senior Policy Advisor, OECD; Johanna Enberg, Strategist Innovation Procurement, Swedish Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement; and Mark Hidson, Global Director, ICLEI's Sustainable Procurement Centre.
The Procura+ Awards are an initiative of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, in cooperation with the EU-funded Procure2Innovate project. The awards reward successful, already running, sustainable and innovative public procurements. The application period for the 2022 Awards will open soon. The 2021 awards ceremony was held online and can be viewed here.
More details on the procurement initiatives of this year’s winners and finalists can be found on the Procura+ website.
