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EU Urban Agenda Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement 8 th NEWSLETTER, July 2022

An innovative solution in Bloemendaal, the Netherlands: the parking lot has been changed into a solar park: cars will remain cool under a roof covered with energy providing solar screens.

NEWSLETTER NO 8, July 2022

This EU Urban Agenda Public Procurement Newsletter contains information about the progress of the Partnerships work and contributions of our partners.

INDEX

  • Read all about the latest activities and recent developments of the Partnership:
  • Launch of the Urban Agenda Public Procurement Action Plan 2022
  • The UA Partnership video has been updated with 3 new actions
  • Summary of the joint CITIES4CSR – UA Partnership – URBACT event in Brussels
  • Interesting Public Procurement links
  • Introducing our new Partnership member: the Barcelona Provincial Council; interview with Carles Barnés
  • BEE (Bordeaux European Exchanges) conference in Bordeaux
  • The Public Procurement e-learning module has been updated
  • DG ENV webinar – Level(s) – a European framework for sustainable buildings
  • Circular Public Procurement Framework for Cities By the Ellen McArthur Foundation (EMF)
  • Project updates: Big Buyers, AI4Cities and Cities2030 Cities Regional Food Systems
  • PROTECT: a project on procuring innovative climate change services
  • EWRC (European Week of Regions and Cities) 2022
  • General information
Welcome to this UA Newsletter: we offer you the latest news of the EU Urban Agenda on Public Procurement Partnerships work. Our motivation to create a better future for all citizens in Europe is reflected in the items and contributions in this Newsletter. Because we care.

Read all about the latest activities and recent developments of the Partnership

Launch of the URBAN AGENDA Public Procurement Action Plan 2022

The Partnership worked hard on the 2022 Action Plan and the three new actions. We are proud to announce the Action Plan 2022 has been approved and the Action Groups will start working on the following actions by September this year:

  • Action 1: Develop a reflection board supported by a sustainable platform where cities, regions, member states and the European Commission/institutions exchange ideas and experiences on strategic public procurement.
  • Action 2: Achieve Green Deal goals by using public procurement and innovation as strategic tools.
  • Action 3: Enable Sustainable Economic Recovery through public procurement.

Link to the UA Public Procurement Action Plan action plan 2022: Urban Agenda Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement for the EU: Action Plan 2022

The start of a new phase in our Urban Agenda Partnership starts in October when the Partnership will have their next meeting and the Action Groups will start working on the 3 new actions. In our next issue we will publish the outcome of this new goal.

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the Urban Agenda Partnership video has been updated with 3 new actions

Interested to learn more about the Urban Agenda Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement for the EU? Please watch this video:

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Summary of the joint CITIES4CSR – UA Partnership – URBACT event in Brussels

On June 30st and July 1st 2022, the Urban Agenda Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement and CITIES4CSR and URBACT organised a joint event in Brussels: the first event in person for over two years! The event was led by the always inspiring Matthew Baqueriza-Jackson. With the principles of collaboration & networking, hard working and having fun, the event was nothing other than a big success! Hopefully this event is a starting point of deeper cooperation around the topics of public procurement between our partners.

After a warm welcome of Giuseppe Costa, Director of the Brussels Delegation to the EU of the Lombardy Region Government, a presentation was given by Justyne Balasinska of DG Regio about the new policy context of strategic public procurement.

The participants have been discussing the launch of the New Action Plan of the Urban Agenda Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement and continuation of our Partnership. Coordinator Valentina Schippers-Opejko presented the new Action Plan of the Partnership.

On behalf of URBACT, Matthew Baqueriza-Jackson provided an inspiring presentation about using strategic procurement and the procurement cycle. The participants of the joint event got to practice with an example to identify chances and barriers!

After Matthews presentation, Steffen Wetzstein, on behalf of CITIES4CSR, provided an interesting presentation on 12 lessons learned, which proved to be very useful for the other participants as well!

On Friday morning, Anna Lupi of DG GROW presented on Socially responsible and strategic procurement at EU level, as well as Green Deal and just transition, Big Buyers and Innobrokers projects.

Would you like to know more about green, innovative and social procurement? Subscribe to the Procurement Gazette here: GROWTH - Manage my Newsroom account (europa.eu)

Left to right: Justyne Balasinska, Steffen Wetzstein, Anna Lupi and Valentina Schippers-Opejko

After two days of fruitful deliberation and networking, five key findings have been identified by the moderator of the event, Matthew Baqueriza-Jackson:

Matthew Baqueriza-Jackson

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Firstly, process of public procurement has often been viewed as boring and technical, and restriction by the bureaucracy of EU Procurement Directives. However, the presentations from both DG REGIO and DG GROW suggested that there is a mandate from the European Commission for procurement to become more strategic and innovative and be used as a level to address the many challenges that Europe faces!

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Second, the processes of public procurement and corporate social responsibility should be framed by deep cooperation between a range of partners. Indeed, for it to be more strategic, there needs to be cooperation between local politicians and procurement teams, between those designing goods and services (commissioners) and procurers, between procurers and economic development practitioners, and between municipalities and the market.

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Third, there are lots of existing tools already out there that can assist municipalities and other institutions to become more strategic in their approaches to public procurement and corporate social responsibility.

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Fourth, Europe faces many contemporary economic, social and environmental challenges whether it be recovering from the impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine, issues around migration and employment, or mitigating the impacts of climate change. Public procurement and corporate social responsibility can be used as a key lever to contribute towards addressing these challenges and many others.

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Fifth, it takes time, resource and capacity to change the way in which Municipalities think about procurement and corporate social responsibility. Change is not going to happen overnight and a long term approach should be adopted to harnessing the potential of public procurement, in particular.

the Brussel joint event group

Some interesting PUBLIC PROCUREMENT links were shared during the event:

Justyne Balasinska:

Valentina Schippers-Opejko:

Steffen Wetzstein:

Anna Lupi:

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INTRODUCING OUR NEW PARTNERSHIP MEMBER: Barcelona Provincial Council

interview with Carles Barnés, Head of Public Procurement

Carles Barnés, Head of Public Procurement, Department Barcelona Provincial Council, Spain

Carles Barnés has been working for the Barcelona Provincial Council for over 20 years. The Barcelona Provincial Council consists of 311 municipalities with more than 5.5 million people living in this area. In the first years Carles Barnés worked for the Department of Environment. Since 2018 he is responsible for managing the Public Procurement Department.

Why does the Provincial Council would like to join the Partnership?

Carles Barnés: ‘’The first and foremost reason to join the Partnership is the knowledge exchange and learning from other partners and areas in which public procurement is being worked on. From our administration point of view, we want to try and overcome cautious behavior and try to be more innovative. To exchange knowledge with European professionals in the improvement of public procurement is a reason for us to join.’’

What are the challenges that the Barcelona Provincial Council faces in terms of Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement?

Carles Barnés points out that the Barcelona Provincial Council faces numerous challenges. For instance, the bureaucratic and formalistic procedure hinders innovative public procurement sometimes. Next to this, the price criterium is often decisive for the result of the tender. This has the effect that we cannot really buy into the latest (innovative) developments on the market, which can improve quality, efficiency and environmental sustainability. A very particular and immediate challenge for the Barcelona Provincial Council is to create a central purchasing body for the municipalities to make innovative purchases for all local authorities of the Province.

What is the added value of the Partnership for the Barcelona Provincial Council?

Carles Barnés: ‘’The academic knowledge of some of the members is very valuable for us. Next to this, the exchange and ideas between professionals from non-Spanish members and public markets, and the experience sharing between administrations with different contexts is of great value for us. By working together, we truly believe we can improve.’’

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BEE (Bordeaux European Exchanges) conference in Bordeaux, July 27-29 2022

Left to right: Valentina Schippers-Opejko, Simon Clement, moderator Jérôme Bergerot en Matthieu Cahen

The BEE conference (Bordeaux European Exchanges) this year provided the opportunity for key discussions between European regional public procurement stakeholders. More than 1000 people followed the exchanges, face-to-face in Bordeaux and online.

One of the speakers was Valentina Schippers-Opejko in her role as Coordinator of the Urban Agenda Partnership of Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement. She underlined Public Procurement as a strategic tool that can help to tackle many challenges European public authorities are dealing with on an economic, social and environmental level.

This link: 3ème TABLE-RONDE – Les marchés stratégiques en Europe (colloquebee.fr) contains the presentations of Matthieu CAHEN (Policy Analyst), Sarah LONGLANDS (Executive Director – CLES), Simon CLEMENT (Senior Coordinator, ICLEI Europe) and Valentina SCHIPPERS-OPEJKO.

To see short interviews with the speakers please use the following link: Les replays (colloquebee.fr)

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The Public Procurement e-learning module has been updated

The Partnership has developed a free to use e-learning module how to integrate strategic public procurement, based on the 2018 Actions. The 7 e-learning modules have been updated over the past few weeks! The 3 new actions will be integrated in the e-learning module.

You can find the link to the e-learning here: Urban Agenda - Public Procurement (maester.com)

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DG ENV webinar – Level(s) – a European framework for sustainable buildings

On June 3, 2022 DG ENV hosted a webinar regarding the new Level(s) e-Learning programme and calculator tool. Level(s) provides a common language for assessing and reporting on the sustainability performance of buildings. It is a simple entry point for applying circular economy principles in our built environment.

Level(s) offers an extensively tested system for measuring and supporting improvements, from design to end of life.

The webinar’s topics were:

  • The understanding of how the e-Learning course can get you ready to start using Level(s) in your working environment.
  • Learn how the Calculation and Assessment Tool (CAT) will simplify the process of completing your sustainability performance assessments using Level(s).

The webinar cannot be replayed. However, you can find more about Level(s) and the e-Learning module here: Level(s) (europa.eu)

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Circular Public Procurement Framework for Cities By the Ellen McArthur Foundation (EMF)

The Ellen McArthur Foundation (EMF) has produced a new circular public procurement framework that can help local governments adopt a more circular approach to public procurement: Circular public procurement: a framework for cities - Circular Procurement for Cities (gitbook.io). As public procurement processes vary across different city environments, the framework is designed to be adapted to local contexts and realities.

The framework is divided in four parts. The first section focuses on how to create the necessary conditions for setting up and identifying opportunities for circular tenders. It is followed by sections on developing circular criteria, running a circular tender, and mainstreaming circular public procurement in the organization. Each of these sections feature questions and actions city officials need to consider when going through a circular procurement process, examples of how other city governments around the world have implemented circular procurement practices, and resources developed by the EMF and other organizations to further explore the topic.

Cities worldwide increasingly recognize the need to adopt circular procurement processes, seeing procurement as a powerful tool city governments can use to shape the transition towards a circular economy. With public procurement accounting for 15-20% of global GDP and sub-national governments being responsible for almost 50% of procurement decisions, city governments have an important role in shaping local circular economies.

Circular economy principles and criteria can be applied to purchase various products and services such as buildings, furniture, food, and packaging among others. By focusing on the desired outcomes and benefits, rather than the products needed, city governments can leverage their purchasing power to build thriving, livable, and resilient cities.

The Circular Procurement Framework can be found here: How to use this framework - Circular Procurement for Cities (gitbook.io)

Cities who want to commit to adopting a circular approach to public procurement can join EMF’s community of cities and local governments: City and Local Government Signup (ellenmacarthurfoundation.org)

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Project updates:

Big Buyers, AI4Cities and Cities2030 Cities Regional Food Systems

The Working Group on Circular Construction is one of four working groups established under the European Commission’s Big Buyers for Climate and Environment initiative, coordinated jointly by ICLEI and Eurocities. The initiative promotes innovation through linking public buyers with market actors and identifying where joint actions, dialogue and international cooperation among public buyers across Europe can successfully trigger a positive impact on the market.

The Working Group on Circular Construction has brought together municipalities, road authorities and market actors from all over Europe whose aim is to change existing road construction methods favouring more sustainable practices through procurement. The work of the Group included site visits and dialogue with market players (individual producers and their national and international associations). The Group aimes to collectively have more purchasing power to increase the attractiveness of new technologies for the industry.

As a member of the working group on circular construction materials Haarlem is co leading this group with the city of Vienna. Together with Lisbon, Valencia and Rotterdam we are exploring the pathway to circular asphalt. A study visit to Rotterdam gave insight in circular possibilities and also learned that the pathway to circular asphalt is not at all even paved in Europe. Together with the national road authorities we are working on a joint statement of demand. This will be presented in November to DG Grow.

AI4Cities is a three-year EU-funded project bringing together leading European cities looking for artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to accelerate carbon neutrality. Helsinki (Finland), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Copenhagen (Denmark), Greater Paris (France), Stavanger (Norway) and Tallinn (Estonia) are the six European cities and regions in this project asking suppliers to provide AI solutions for mobility and energy challenges. Meeting their climate commitments and reducing CO2 emissions is their ultimate goal.

Through AI4Cities, the Buyers Group (the 6 cities) will go through a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) process, an innovation procurement tool that enables the public sector to steer the development of new solutions (not-market-ready) directly towards its needs.

Living labs play an important role in the understanding of complex systems like the food system. Developing sustainable food systems is an important task for the European Commission. The impact on climate of food production is very big. One of the food system projects in Europe is the Cities2030 project in which the city of Haarlem takes part of. With their active citizens and company’s on sustainable food the city of Haarlem tries to engage and stimulate new initiatives. With the support of the Haarlem based Haarlem Food Future we want to learn which solutions are fruitful. The VU Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Institute for Environmental Studies helps with research of their students to pin point the challenges and enriches the works in the living lab with data to improve the projects in the city towards a more sustainable food system.

Would you like to receive more information on these projects you can contact Rudie de Vries at the City of Haarlem: rudiedevries@haarlem.nl

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PROTECT: a project on procuring innovative climate change services

Fill in the survey and get a Workshop on Climate Adaption Procurement for free!

The European Commission-funded project PROTECT seeks to support urgent action for climate adaptation and mitigation through innovation procurement procedures. It specifically aims to enable public authorities from different European regions to collaborate on a joint pre-commercial procurement.

In this context we invite you to provide us with your feedback by replying to an online survey by September 30th, 2022: EUSurvey - Survey (europa.eu)

The survey is available in the following languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Italian and Slovak.

The information gathered will allow us to pre-select relevant climate services that reply to your needs in addressing climate change challenges in five application domains: Utilities, Green communities, Circular and Bioeconomy, Land use and Marine environment and Civil Security and Protection.

To the extent possible, it is recommended to discuss the questionnaire with your procurement legal expert and your technical expert in a cooperative manner.

For any question you may have, please contact: Info-PROTECT@group-gac.com

We will be glad to provide you with more information about the PROTECT project, in particular invite you to our upcoming events and training sessions and connect you with public procurers who share similar needs.

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EWRC (European Week of Regions and Cities) 2022

The European Week of Regions and Cities is an annual four-day event during which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement European Union cohesion policy, and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance.

This year’s online event will take place from October 10 to 13 and will have the following themes:

  • Green transition
  • Territorial Cohesion
  • Digital transition
  • Youth empowerment

The Urban Agenda Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement and European Innovation Council (EIC) will present a joint online Zoom session/workshop "Achieve Green Deal by Responsible Public Procurement and Innovation" on Wednesday October 12 from 16.30 until 18.00 pm.

Registration officially opens to the public on August 31.

Link: Home | European Week of Regions and Cities (europa.eu)

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all information about the EU UA Public Procurement partnership can be found on:

Futurium, Urban Agenda for the EU: Public Procurement

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GENERAL INFORMATION

Would you like to know more about the possibilities for your organization or are you interested in becoming a partner?

Please contact the coordinator of the Partnership Valentina Schippers-Opejko by e-mail: vopejko@haarlem.nl

Would you like to receive all UA Public Procurement newsletters in the future? Please send an e-mail to: djansens@haarlem.nl

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For more information about the Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement under the EU Urban Agenda, please send an e-mail to Mrs. Valentina Schippers-Opejko: vopejko@haarlem.nl

This newsletter is a production of the EU Urban Agenda coordination team Partnership for Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement.

City of Haarlem

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