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Sustainable Public Procurement News
From Office of Government Procurement
Published on
Last updated on
From Office of Government Procurement
Published on
Last updated on
This page will provide the latest news and events for procurers on sustainable public procurement.
Green Public Procurement Strategy and Action Plan 2024 - 2027
The new Green Public Procurement Strategy and Action Plan ‘Buying Greener: Green Public Procurement Strategy and Action Plan 2024-2027’ has been published. Further information on the new strategy and action plan can be found here.
EU GPP Helpdesk Webinar on “Mainstreaming a profession: The Professionalisation of public procurement”
The first European Commission’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) Helpdesk webinar of 2024 focused on the professionalisation of public procurement. This webinar explored the training programs, career development support and tools that exist at the EU and National level to aid public buyers. Further information and a recording of this webinar can be found here.
Opportunities and approaches for Sustainable Public Procurement
The Office of Government Procurement has published ‘Opportunities and approaches for Sustainable Public Procurement: A reference for public procurement practitioners and policy makers’. This reference, for the first time, brings together in one place the wide range of international, European, and national policies and guidance across both green and socially responsible public procurement.
The press release can be found here.
The Sustainable Public Procurement reference is available here.
Climate Action Plan 2024
There are a number of commitments relevant to procurement in the revised Public Sector Climate Action Mandate in Climate Action Plan 2024, the third annual update to Ireland’s Climate Action Plan. The Plan was approved by Government on 20 December 2023, subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment and Appropriate Assessment.
EU GPP Helpdesk Webinar
The European Commission’s GPP Helpdesk hosted a webinar on ‘Social and Environmental Considerations and the Link with the Subject Matter’ on 12 December 2023. Further information along with a recording of the webinar can be found here.
GPP Criteria is one year old!
In November 2022, GPP Criteria Search was launched, facilitating use in procurement processes of the Irish Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria published by the Environmental Protection Agency. In its first year, the site was visited almost 18,000 times. OGP continues to improve the site: Please share any feedback or further suggestions for enhancing the site via the 'Leave Feedback' / 'Tabhair Aiseolas' tab.
Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) handbook on Green Public Procurement in Construction Projects
In April 2023, the IGBC published a handbook on Implementation of Circularity, WLC and LCC in Public Construction Projects, which introduces some of the key green indicators that should be applied within the procurement of public construction projects, in addition to the energy efficiency requirements in Building Regulations Technical Guidance Documents Part L.
Social Enterprises in Ireland – A Baseline Data Collection Exercise
A reserve contract allows for a public body to ‘reserve’ a contract, or elements thereof, to certain types of suppliers. A reserved contract can be retained for Social Enterprises, the Department of Rural and Community Development commissioned a consortium to conduct the first Baseline Data Gathering Exercise of Social Enterprise in Ireland which can be found here.
Identification of Effective State-of-the-Art Green Public Procurement Policy and Practice for the Irish Public Sector (GAPS)
Funded by the EPA Research Programme, the GAPS project is led by University of Galway, and aims to produce a GPP toolkit. Keep up to date via https://www.linkedin.com/company/gaps-green-public-procurement/.
UNDP training in procurement for sustainable development
The United Nations Development Programme has launched an online course on Transparent and Open Public Procurement for Sustainable Development . It provides an overview of:
a) Fundamentals of Transparent Public Procurement for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals
b) Processes and Components of Public Procurement Systems
c) Corruption Risk Mitigation in Public Procurement and
d) Public Procurement for Inclusive and Sustainable Growth.
Apprenticeships in Public Procurement
In collaboration with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, the OGP have developed an information note on Apprenticeships in Public Procurement . Public procurement allows for the inclusion of social considerations, such as apprenticeship provisions, in procurement procedures under certain conditions. By incorporating apprenticeship provisions into their contracts, contracting authorities can be crucial in promoting apprenticeships.
Gender-responsive public procurement
The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) has published resources to help advance gender equality throughout the supply chain:
• A step-by-step toolkit that gives practical guidance on how to include gender considerations at each step of the public procurement cycle
• A short factsheet for practitioners
Virtual Green + Social Procurement Trade Fair
The Community Resources Network Ireland (CRNI) has developed a Virtual Green + Social Procurement Trade Fair to display the goods and services of CRNI members.
EPA Green Public Procurement webpage
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) maintains an informative Green Public Procurement website that provides access to the EPA ‘Green Public Procurement -Guidance for the Public Sector’ and other EPA GPP activities. Recent additions to the site include:
• GPP Training for Suppliers
• EPA Report on GPP in government departments in 2020
Public procurement professionals may wish to alert their suppliers to the GPP Training for Suppliers.
European Commission’s GPP Helpdesk broadens scope to social responsibility
The EU GPP Helpdesk announced in February 2022 that from now on it would address both environmental and social considerations in public procurement. Procurement practitioners may submit questions on all aspects of sustainable public procurement to gpp-helpdesk@iclei.org .
OGP Go Green Conference: From Policy to Practice (8 February 2022)
The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) held a ‘Go Green Conference: From Policy to Practice’ on 8 February 2022.
This event provided advice and highlighted the experience of a range of public bodies in developing and implementing green public procurement strategies and projects.
Presentations from the event are available to view on the OGP’s Going Green with the OGP website.
See our Sustainable Public Procurement page for more information on Sustainable Public Procurement in Ireland