Fostering Co-Responsible Reconciliation through Public Procurement

Good Practice

Equality

Fostering Co-Responsible Reconciliation through Public Procurement

Including procurement clauses in municipal contracts to encourage awarded suppliers to adopt work-life balance measures.

Strasbourg City Council

France

Local policy

POLICY OBJECTIVE

Help local companies create jobs Place ethics at the heart of the purchasing act: create a relationship of trust between buyers and companies based on shared ethical standards
Develop the economic performance of purchasing: use purchasing as a lever to control public spending, professionalise buyers
Optimise public procurement: conclude contracts that are secure for the parties and that guarantee the continuity of public services
Increase the use of sustainable development in public procurement: introduce more social, environmental and fair trade clauses in contracts, while ensuring that they remain sustainable for businesses
Deploying e-services in all acts and exchanges relating to the authority’s purchases by supporting the players in the digital transition

CONTEXT

Public procurement in France represents between 15% and 20% of GDP. It can play a major role in economic, social and environmental transitions. Local and regional authorities account for around 65% of national public procurement, which is a key lever in the implementation of the recovery plan, the deployment of which is essential to combat the economic and social crisis that has accompanied the health crisis we have been in for more than a year.

The SPASER is the local tool that outlines the community’s main policy orientations in terms of sustainable public purchasing.

KEY ASPECTS

The governance part includes several areas, ranging from the development of sourcing to the technical and political monitoring of its implementation and evaluation, and including communication.

In regards to external communication, local and national dissemination was ensured as soon as the plan was adopted; as regards internal communication, it is essential that the departments and services take ownership of the plan’s content.

Some participated in its drafting and are driving forces in this area; others are keen to increase their skills so that purchasers, project managers and finance officers can give concrete expression to the principles that structure the plan.

In-depth and regular exchanges are held between the local authority’s purchasing department and these departments in order to ensure that everyone can successfully take ownership of its content.

RESULTS

The results were not long in coming. The number of specifications containing only the two classic criteria ‘price’ and ‘technical’ is decreasing; the proportion of awards to the best offer is increasing; the number of small and medium-sized companies obtaining our contracts is increasing and three quarters of the successful offers are actors based locally.

One last point deserves attention. The adoption of such a scheme is a powerful tool for making the territory’s companies eco-responsible and also a device for advancing, within the community, the collective reflection on the enormous socio-environmental issues related to the habitability of the planet by the human species.

Policy's Website

Joana

Levy

Meeting Charter

joana.levy@strasbourg.e

Good Practice