Green public procurement

Due to the numerous questions from public contracting authorities and the necessity for an interpretation of requirements of green public procurement, the need for new personnel arose to provide efficient and professional assistance to public contracting authorities.

The new personnel will be responsible for:

• the preparation of guidelines on green procurement for public contracting authorities;
• organising trainings for public contracting authorities and experts at various ministries;
• preparingsample tender documentation in accordance with the new Decree on green public procurement, and
• providing assistance in the preparation of other tools for an efficient system of green public procurement in Slovenia.

In addition, the organisation of 24 workshops for public contracting authorities and tenderers is planned. To empower all public contracting authorities with knowledge to draft tender documentation, the workshops will take place in different Slovenian regions.

The aim of the Reinforcement of a helpdesk for public procurers is to provide continuous and immediate assistance in tender documentation preparation. This means providing assistance in including the environmental requirements in the tender documentation, understanding the Decree on green public procurement, verifying compliance with the environmental requirements of tenderers, etc.

In some departments of the state administration, public procurements represent a big market share (e.g. public transport and construction, healthcare services and education); therefore, their decisions can have a big impact on the environment. A comprehensive analysis of the effects of green public procurement on the environment has not yet been carried out in Slovenia; therefore, such analysis will be carried out in the first 18 months of the project. The purpose of the first analysis is to define the starting situation (to monitor the effects of green public procurement regarding the market share, reduction of GHG emissions, and the supplementary effects on the environment and climate), which will provide the basis for a comparison with the accomplishments of this project. Economic impacts will also be measured. The second analysis will be the indicator of progress made by the project and accompanying activities. In addition, the assessments gathered during this campaign will serve as the basis for the improvement of the system of green public procurement and planning of better measures to support the suppliers and producers.

Based on the market analysis, a database (it will include data about the effects of construction products on the environment and greenhouse gas emissions) will be prepared that will enable the public contracting authorities to choose environmentally- and climate-friendly materials.

The requirements of green public procurement are not well known to the target audience and stakeholders. Therefore, several promotional activities and materials will be prepared within the project to increase the capacities for green public procurement. The main purpose of the promotional material is to equip the public contracting authorities with information, data, procedures, and explanations that will facilitate the preparation of public procurement and thus contribute to the greater and more efficient use of green public procurement in Slovenia.

The purpose of preparing model tender documentation is to facilitate the procedures of tender documentation and compliance with environmental requirements regulated by the Decree on green public procurement for public contracting authorities and, consequently, to reduce the negative effects on the environment with the procurement of more environmentally-friendly goods and services.

The objective of this activity is the successful implementation of green public procurement through improving knowledge and motivation for green public procurement and contribute to implementation of the OP GHG. Public contracting authorities will be more inclined to procure more environmentally-friendly goods and services. The model documentation will also include the tool for the calculation of the life cycle of public procurement subjects, including a user manual for the tool.