Tampere (Finland) has cooperated with the market to develop new circular procurement procedures, criteria and operation methods for the construction of streets. When these methods were applied in the procurement of Yliopistonkatu, one of the central streets in the city, it was the first time such public procurement criteria were used in Finland.

At the heart of the procurement process is a new principle based on market cooperation: Design and Building. As part of this process, the city sets circular and other sustainability and safety goals for the construction site, but gives companies the ability to influence how these goals are achieved through the design of the project. The contractor is responsible for the recycling and procurement of the material used in the project, under the supervision of the customer.

Karoliina Tuukkanen, project manager in Tampere notes that even though “the use of the Design & Build model and scoring criteria in the construction contract was new for the city, the experience was good. With the new procurement model and criteria we were able to procure the most cost effective and the most ambitious offer in terms of the circular economy.”

More information about Tampere’s work and other innovative ways of using circular procurement can be found in “Circular construction in Europe: handbook for local and regional governments”, a key document published by the EU-funded CityLoops project that seeks to contribute to the further implementation of the circular economy across Europe. The handbook, aimed at local and regional governments, provides a comprehensive overview of how the lessons learnt and main insights from the project (and from other pioneering European cities) can be most effectively applied in other contexts. The project has also developed a similar handbook focussing on the circular bioeconomy.

As a signatory of the Circular Cities Declaration and a participant in the Procura+ Network, Tampere can rightfully be called a pioneering city. It has made circular economy a strong part of all its infrastructure building activities. In compliance with its CE strategy, investments are made in innovative solutions and procurements in the planning, development and construction of infrastructure projects.

Public authorities increasingly see strategic public procurement as a key tool for supporting environmental, social, economic and innovation policy goals. This shift away from a purely administrative to purchasing, towards a more strategic and needs-driven one means that “certain regulatory frameworks need to be readjusted to promote a more holistic approach to public procurement, as currently most policies are not developed to ensure coherence across various policy areas and procurement legislations." This is one of the key points raised by ICLEI Europe’s Sustainable and Innovation Procurement Team, in an article written for European Public Mosaic, an open journal focusing on public service.

The article furthermore provides a deep dive on the state of play of strategic public procurement within the regulatory framework in Europe, showcasing best practices and key challenges. It places the current developments in European public procurement in the context of the European Green Deal, which notes that for Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, public authorities need to take the lead and ensure that their procurement is green. That requires wider implementation of sustainable public procurement on both national and local level, which can be hindered by legal, technical and organisational factors. The European Commission is increasingly taking measures to address this. The procurement dialogues initiative is a good example of this.

As the article notes, ICLEI, often in cooperation with the EU has already developed certain materials that can help public authorities to further promote strategic public procurement. They include guidance such as “Buying Green! A handbook on green public procurement" and the Procura+ Manual. In addition, ICLEI Europe currently coordinates an EU-funded training programme in ten Member States dedicated to professionalising and scaling up Green Public Procurement (GPP), operates the EU Green Public Procurement Helpdesk, and leads the Procura+ European Sustainable Network.

The article also highlights a number of concrete example of how cities across Europe have successfully used strategic public procurement. The City of Copenhagen (Denmark) included green vehicle criteria in their procurement of window cleaning services, implementing a ‘staircase model’ as a contract performance clause whereby the minimum percentage of green vehiclesrequired increased annually. The University Paris-Saclay (France), required the use of eco-labels, reusable and durable products in their tender to provide students with reusable menstrual products and the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa (Spain), incorporated gender equality clauses in contracts.

Finally, ICLEI’s SIP Team emphasises that more public authorities around Europe should follow these examples, noting that “there is a widespread misconception that sustainable solutions cost more. Differences in purchase price between sustainable and non-sustainable options are usually negligible and, even so, may be offset by savings in energy, water and waste over the lifetime of the product or service. Ambitious strategic and sustainable procurement policies can also redefine purchasing needs so that overall costs are lowered.”

The full article can be read here.