RESECO
RESECO is a network for Public Procurement and Sustainable Development that unites communities willing to introduce social and environmental requirements in their procurement policy. Founded in 2006, it includes hundreds of public authorities from the French regions of Pays de la Loire, Brittany, Centre, (some are previous territories from RESECO but now under another network), and other public legal entities. In order to achieve its goals, RESECO organises many capacity building activities including working groups, webinars, one day feedback, reflection days, training, raising awareness days, and tools. The aim is sharing good practices and tenders between members to meet climate and environmental challenges.
 | 2013 Date joined |
 | 5 Employees |
 | 130 Members |
Laurence Cesbron
Executive Assistant, Finance and European Relations
More information? Email procurement@iclei.org
The main priority of the network is helping the participants (the public authorities) to integrate social and sustainable criteria in procurement. RESECO’s overall goal is to stimulate exchange of good practice and knowledge between its members. Members of RESECO pool resources and share expertise on the implementation of sustainable procurement policies, the integration of sustainable development in public procurement, and the evolution of offers of “responsible” products and services.
REGIONAL NETWORKING OBJECTIVESThe objectives of the Network are to:
An average of two three-day training sessions on public procurement are held in partnership with the ADEME per year. RESECO also provides its own training sessions.
GUIDELINES AND MATERIALSAt the end of each working group period, a guide on good practice is published which also contains legal recommendations on sustainable criteria that can be directly used by other members or municipalities, it can be also tools that aims to help the purchasers in the preparation of their tenders procedure. During the working groups there are meetings during which minutes are taken and later reports written. These reports are then available to members who can use the resources (criteria, experience, sections of code, etc.) until the final guide is written and published.
Sustainable tenders are available for RESECO members, good practices and a Newsletter.
RESECO's core activity is giving advice. Participants can ask for guides, models of tenders, or if RESECO has already worked on issues, etc. Applications are increasingly numerous.
JOINT PROCUREMENT ACTIVITIESRESECO had a working group on "Grouping Orders (joint procurement)" (2010-2011) and the city of Angers and Angers Loire Métropole are leading a joint procurement for fairtrade coffee.
An email address offers members a chance to ask each other questions about procurement topics and receive support in specific tenders. For example, if a participant is planning launch a tender and wants to know more information on best practice, they can use this tool.
MARKET ENGAGEMENTFor each working group, a meeting with suppliers is held in order to discuss challenges, such as legal and supply issues. The goal is to lobby suppliers to adopt sustainable public procurement as well as to discuss their work. RESECO considers it important to know the market and the supply and to know the difficulties faced by suppliers to respond to tenders. The meeting is an exchange with suppliers selected by the working group. Questions are asked about their environmental efforts, Corporate Social Responsibility and other sustainability issues.
Monitoring and reporting of the network activities includes both an analysis of time spent and an annual activity report. RESECO uses a reporting tool to analyse time spent by employees in the different network activities. Additionally, RESECO prepares an annual activity report which includes all activities, such as number of meetings, existing working groups, and tools and materials developed.
Working groups are the network's flagship activity. Themes of past, present and future working groups are:
Many events are organized on topics linked to sustainable public procurement, circular economy, food procurement and catering, together with other partners.
Since joining the Procura+ Network, RESECO has been trying to promote good practices in Europe, for instance the network participated in the SPP regions project, where it it set up a joint procurement with five local municipalities for public canteens.
RESECO has participated in the Procura+ Community Café in October 2021.
As part of guidance published, RESECO has many examples of best practices for each topic covered in working groups. Examples include:
For further information on the activities of RESECO visit their website:
or email procurement@iclei.org
