Faced with a lack of policy and strategic vision, the fragmentation of institutional responsibilities, and a dearth of technical capacity at the level of public procurers, the uptake of Green Public Procurement (GPP) in Malta has been tepid. However, bolstered by the EU procurement directives, the island nation is taking steps to ensure the practice goes mainstream.

To boost uptake, the Maltese government has issued a call to recruit outside expertise to support in the development of GPP strategies for at least two government beneficiaries. As part of their duties, the consultancy will be expected to deliver scientific studies to assist in the introduction of 10 new environmental criteria. Critics, however, note that the programme needs to be given increased funding to succeed.

While many welcome the gesture to bring in an outside expert, critics believe that more will need to be done to ensure that the revised EU directives are fully implemented, and GPP as a concept embraced by public authorities across the country. A 2012 National Action Plan made some progress in the area, but overall was widely seen as not achieving its target of broadly boosting GPP in the region.

For more information, read an analysis by the Malta Independent.