PUBLIC PROCUREMENT NEWS

  

News

6 December 2012

Ihobe publishes guide to help local authorities continue GPP practices

Ihobe has published a guide to help public administrations find arguments and strategies to continue including an environmental perspective in their procurement practices, enabling them to continue using natural resources more efficiently, as well as achieving greater economic efficiency. The inclusion of environmental considerations in public procurement has often suffered from the preconception that buying green is more expensive - in times of austerity and public cuts, this may cause policy makers and public servants to face difficulties keeping the requirement of environmentally preferable products and services.

However, this prejudice is often incorrect. In many cases greener solutions are simply not more expensive, in others savings are achieved over time, the long-term cost reductions compensating the higher purchasing price. In some cases, it is the way the procurement itself is conducted (beyond the definition of tenders) that can help administrations introduce environmental purchasing criteria in an economically efficient way.

The guide (elaborated by Ecoinstitut) compiles, for the first time in one document, the main strategies to support green procurement as a tool to improve public sector efficiency without sacrificing the environment, and as a means to achieve economic savings at the same time. For each of the strategies, real examples are presented, including in quantitative terms, whenever possible, the environmental benefits and economic savings that the strategy or action achieved. The Guide aims to inspire policy makers and support technical staff to introduce measures in their own administration.

To download the Guide, click here[in Spanish].