NEWSLETTER NO 6, MAY 2021

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

We are proud to present our new partner: the University of Twente - the Netherlands. They will kick of by introducing themselves in an introduction interview.

INDEX

• INTERVIEW with Louise Knight, University of Twente, new EU UA Public Procurement partner
• Updated VIDEO EU Urban Agenda on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement
• ARTICLE in the February 2021 European Commission GPP News Alert
• Links to the E-LEARNING MODULE on Public Procurement and the introduction WEBINAR
• FREE ONLINE COURSE on Strategic Procurement by URBACT
• BEST PRACTICES FROM OUR PARTNERS:
• - Municipality of Gabrovo: project "Development of sustainable urban transport in the City of Gabrovo, Bulgaria"
• - Region of Central Macedonia: project "Electric vehicles for the Municipalities of the Metropolitan area of Thessaloniki, Greece”
• Link and QR code to the FUTURIUM Public Procurement WEBSITE

INTERVIEW

5 Questions to our new EU Urban Agenda Partner on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement:

Louise Knight, University of Twente – the Netherlands

1

Can you tell us about the University of Twente from the perspective of Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement?

As a technical university, the University of Twente (UT) holds innovation and sustainability to be central to our research and teaching. Our motto is ‘High Tech Human Touch’. More than 20 staff and PhD candidates, based in two faculties – Behavioral, Management and Social Sciences and Engineering Technology – specialized in procurement. Between us, we teach 15 courses to Masters and Bachelors students. Our research in the manufacturing, health, infrastructure and public sectors covers a very wide range of topics, including how to be an attractive customer, procurement competences, digitalization of procurement, ‘born sustainable’ firms, contract and relationship management, the future of (public) procurement, procurement in and from start-ups, purchasing innovative products and services, big data for anticipating shortages, and procurement organization and governance. We often do joint research with colleagues who are experts in areas such as entrepreneurship, data sciences, servitisation, Industry 4.0 and technology assessment.

And we connect our research with our education and policy activities. As part of UT’s Shaping 2030 strategy, we are developing our curriculum towards challenge-based learning – centered on students learning through addressing real problems and opportunities such as implementing innovative and responsible public procurement.

2

University of Twente is a formal partner in the EU Urban Agenda Partnership for Responsible and Innovative Public Procurement. Can you indicate what this involvement entails?

We are keen to collaborate with partners to bid for research and development funding, so we can jointly develop new tools and practices, build and communicate the evidence base, and facilitate take-up. Through these activities, we learn a great deal which we take back into teaching our current students, but also our involvement in curriculum and professional development. For example, what are the key competences needed for innovative procurement? How can we help attract experienced purchasing executives from the commercial sector and young graduates to work in the public domain?

We hope also to be able to support partners’ projects, for example through connecting them with our students for internships and research projects. (We’ve learnt in the last year that international assignments can be done through homeworking!) Our goal is to build deep and enduring cooperation with partners, to learn together and effectively share that learning within the wider procurement community.

3

Are there advantages of being a part of the EU Urban Agenda Partnership?

For sure! We see the Urban Agenda as a hugely important space for learning, research and education which requires new combinations of expertise, knowledge and techniques, breaking down traditional silos between functions and disciplines and relying on new ways of working between the public and private sectors. For us, being a member of the Innovative and Responsible Procurement Partnership is a fantastic opportunity to contribute to the field of strategic procurement, in line with our group’s mission to facilitate societal value creation through procurement. We at UT are ‘thinking big’, and are excited to join this network with wide reach and big ambitions!

It’s not a one way street, however. At UT, we are all active members of the International Purchasing and Supply Education and Research Association (IPSERA www.ipsera.com), a global community, through which we – the Partnership – can learn and influence. For example, I chair the recently established IPSERA Special Interest Group on Procurement in the Public Domain.

4

Can you mention as a successful example of University of Twente in terms of Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement?

My colleague Klaas Stek teaches an introductory MSc course on Purchasing Management. His students undertake a sourcing project over the 10 week course working with the local university purchasing consortium, and of course they must account for environmental and social impact in their research and decision making.

In 2020, I designed and delivered Public and Healthcare Procurement, a new MSc course on procurement policy and strategy, with innovation, environment and social outcomes, and ethics and corruption as central themes.

5

What has to be the main focus of the Partnership and when will it be judged as successful?

When it comes to how innovative and responsible public procurement can help address the climate emergency, inequity and technological transitions, commitment, momentum and expertise are all growing rapidly. There are many local initiatives to address the challenges we face. These are necessary but, in isolation, they are not sufficient.

I see the role of networks such as the Partnership as being centered on speeding up and scaling up capacity and capability building. The Partnership can facilitate implementation and learning for localised initiatives. Beyond these, we seek out synergies, and opportunities to amplify and leverage learning. Together, we can address systemic issues which no single partner working alone can influence. Notably, we need to continue to advocate for, and evidence, procurement’s central role in transforming how public bodies and suppliers can work together.

I doubt there will be a time when we will be able to say we have succeeded – it’s an ongoing process. Succeeding will be evidenced in multiple ways – in terms of the benefits to individual partners and the urban communities they represent, and to the wider value we can generate collectively.

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video EU Urban Agenda on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement

Our new EU Urban Agenda partner for Responsible and Innovative Public Procurement - the University of Twente, the Netherlands – has been added to our partnerships video!

Please find the updated video here: https://youtu.be/8BT84mDWpq4

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Article in the February 2021 European Commission GPP News Alert

The Urban Agenda Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement has delivered seven actions to help procurers implement sustainable and innovation procurement, including guidelines, toolboxes and handbooks. To make these deliverables more user-friendly, an interactive E-Learning module has been developed. Setting up a procurement strategy and measuring public spend are two of the modules included.

Link to this article (page 1): Issue_102_NewsAlert_February_2021.pdf (europa.eu)

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Online Course on Strategic Procurement

The Strategic Procurement Course is developed by URBACT in collaboration with the Urban Agenda Partnership on Innovative and Responsible Public Procurement and Making Spend Matter Initiative.

About the course

URBACT has developed a free online course to equip cities with the knowledge and tools required to embed social and environmental criteria into the process of public procurement and to progress strategic procurement.

Who is this course for?

This free and online training is targeted at anyone with an interest in procurement and changing the way it is undertaken in cities. You could be a mayor or politician, a civil servant working in strategy or procurement department, or working in urban and economic development, or someone completely different and willing to learn!

Course structure

The course comprises of 7 training modules and accompanying city case-studies covering the procurement cycle.

To follow the free Strategic Procurement Course, please use the link: https://urbact.eu/procurement and find out more about each module.

The event on March 17, 2021 completed the first two modules of the course and the recording is therefore available at the bottom of the page of module 2 here: https://urbact.eu/procurement-course-EU-policy-framework

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BEST PRACTICES FROM OUR PARTNERs

The way to know more about Strategic Public Procurement and implementing the tools in your organization or project is by learning from the experiences of other UA partners. Find below the BEST PRACTICES of the Municipality of Gabrovo and the Region of Central Macedonia:

What is this project about?

Municipality of Gabrovo implemented the project "Development of sustainable urban transport in the city of Gabrovo", funded by the program "Regions in development". The project had the task to improve the transport infrastructure and systems with a positive impact on the quality of passenger service. One of goals was the purchase of new buses targeted to reduce noxious emissions and to encourage the use of renewable/alternative energy sources.

The main goal of the project was to create more efficient, faster and environmentally friendly urban transport in the city of Gabrovo, with less energy consumption and opportunities for alternative forms of transport, which improve the quality of life and the ecological environment. The acquisition of the new buses was not only a provision of better service, but also protection of the environment, reduction of noise levels, respectively improving the quality of life of residents and guests of Gabrovo.

According to the Analysis of the needs and financial possibilities of Municipality of Gabrovo, the replacement of the busses should be carried out by joint acquisition of electric buses and compressed gas buses (CNG). This option is to improve the existing situation by introducing a revolutionary new type of environmentally friendly vehicles and will ensure their long-term (15-20 years) and sustainable use with minimal maintenance costs.

Why it is a best practice?

We define the Public procurement of electric buses as a good example of public procurement, because in addition to the replacement of depreciated vehicles, a number of side benefits are achieved - reducing noxious emissions from used fuels, improving noise and reducing the harmful impact on the environment.

On the other hand, during the development of the public procurement, an in-depth needs analysis was performed and a functional assignment was prepared, which did not seek delivery of electric busses, but an integrated approach - delivery of vehicles and their necessary charging infrastructure, which allowed participation in the tender of radically different technologies - electric buses with standard batteries (Li-ion) and those with ultra capacitors.

In particular, the technical specifications required the participants to offer electric busses and charging infrastructure, corresponding to the daily tasks of the carrier - to guarantee at least 250 km mileage with a single charge in traffic conditions and to be fully charged in no more than 5 hours or to be able to operate lines with a one-way length of at least 20 kilometers in traffic conditions and to be charged for a maximum of 10 minutes at the end points of the route. The integrated approach provided us with better competition in the tender procedure and also allowed the participation of producers with different technologies.

We define the result of the project as successful, because apart from the usual environmental problems and challenges these electric vehicles meet, we have buses with ultra capacitors, in the production of which not so many harmful raw materials, such as lithium, are used and their service exploitation is longer and the costs for disposal and environmental harmful effects are lower.

Last but not least, the technology allows 24/7 operation with a charge at the last stop during rest, while standard batteries need continuous charging. Sustainability is also in the clauses of the contract guaranteeing that throughout the warranty period, the batteries will have not less than 80% of their capacity.

What are the key success factors of this successful project?

Definitely, the presence of a dedicated and expert team, as well as a good study of the needs of the user of the acquired assets. It is also important to thoroughly analyze common good practices and identify risks from their widespread application. Standard batteries would have some performance at the time of acquisition and quite differently after years of operation, they also solve one problem with harmful emissions but could create another when they go out of use.

To what goals contributes this project (e.g. EU Green Deal goals, Sustainable Development goals, clean mobility, positive impact on climate change, green aspects of this procurement, social aspects and so on)?

The goals are related to sustainable development and resilient urban transport, green public procurement, as well as the fight against climate change and the transition to a low-carbon economy.

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