Green Public Procurement (GPP) - Buying Green!

Green Tenders and GPP

The European Union (EU) drive to integrate environmental requirements and considerations into public purchasing contracts, has led to the introduction of Green tenders, an action plan on Green public procurement, into Ireland.

This means that the Irish Government has committed to fostering green purchasing among national and local administrations. Public authorities in Ireland are responsible for over €14 billion euros in expenditure each year and a target of 50% of all tenders to include GPP criteria has been set by the government.

Green Procurement is the buying of products, services and work that has the lowest environmental impact throughout their life cycle when compared to alternative goods, services and works.

In other words it is the purchasing of goods and services are more eco-efficient, less environmentally harmful/polluting and more environmentally friendly: energy efficient, water conserving, recyclable, non – toxic, low carbon emissions and have improved environmental performance/credentials (ISO 14001).

The National action plan adopts the EU indicative political target of 50% of GPP i.e. 50% of public contracts/tenders in Ireland will incorporate green purchasing criteria.

What is Green Procurement?

Green Procurement is the buying of products, services and work that has the lowest environmental impact throughout their life cycle when compared to alternative goods, services and works.

The National action plan adopts the EU indicative political target of 50% of GPP i.e. 50% of public contracts/tenders in Ireland will incorporate green purchasing criteria.

8 Priority Groups for GPP

Green Tenders has nominated eight product/service groups as priority groups for GPP. These are:

1. Construction
2. Energy
3. Food and Catering Services
4. Transport
5. Cleaning products and services
6. Paper
7. Uniforms and other textiles
8. ICT

Different types of contracts require their own approach to GPP. Therefore the action plan outlines key elements of GPP implementation for the above eight sectors which public authorities are to consider in the granting of contracts for goods, works and services. For example:

“As part of the selection criteria for food and catering services, contractors should be required to prove their technical and professional capacity to perform the environmental aspect of the contract. An environmental management system e.g. ISO 14001:2004 is deemed proof.

In respect of ICT – all public bodies should procure ICT equipment that meets Energy Star Criteria.

For cleaning products and services “as the department has ISO certification for its headquarters in the Custom House, tenderers were required to set out their proposed measures to ensure compliance with the ISO 14001 standard and with the departments Environmental Policy Statement”.

Implementation Group

An Implementation Group, representative of public authorities and relevant stakeholders has been established to oversee and monitor implementation of the Action Plan across the eight areas chosen and to report on progress annually.

Contracting authorities, be it on a national or local level, will also ensure that all officials involved in GPP have a sufficient understanding of all aspects of green public procurement and its relationship to the broader public procurement process.