ICLEI Europe and PricewaterhouseCoopers are implementing a new project on behalf of the European Commission to develop a dialogue on the use of strategic public procurement (green, social and innovation) in all 27 EU member states. In each member state the two organisations are organising closed workshops to gather relevant stakeholders and facilitate their work toward a draft national roadmap.

The main objectives of the project are to understand the current state of strategic use of public procurement within each of 27 Member States and identify existing barriers and potential solutions, cooperate with local key stakeholders to prepare a roadmap towards the development of strategic public procurement and develop communication paths between the European Commission and Member States regarding strategic procurement.

At this stage, workshops have been implemented in Belgium, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Greece and Malta. In November the workshop in Portugal will take place, while the meetings in Estonia and Croatia are currently being planned. Some time after the physical workshops in each country there will be virtual meetings with each MS to evaluate the progress and finalise the roadmaps. The project will end with the organisation of a closed event with all Member States, the European Commission and other relevant stakeholders.

With this project the EC aims to correct the underutilisation of green, socially responsible and innovation procurement in Europe. Public procurement accounts for 14% of the EU's GDP and is a powerful tool to conribute to more sustainable, social and innovative societies. 

More information about the project can be found here.