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News & Press Releases - Fair procurement for the public sector

05 February 2021 Late, the Federal Government finally presents a guide

An alliance of twelve non-governmental organisations criticises the fact that the federal government is not taking binding steps to make the federal government's procurement of textiles fair and sustainable. This is because the recently published ‘Guide of the Federal Government for Sustainable Textile Procurement in the Federal Administration’ lacks the announced step-by-step plan. The federal ministries clearly missed their own target of procuring half of the textiles according to social and ecological criteria by 2020.

In 2015, the Federal Government set itself the goal of procuring half of the textiles required by federal authorities in accordance with social and ecological criteria by 2020. A guide and a step-by-step plan should help with practical implementation. The Federal Government has now published the ‘Guide to Sustainable Textile Procurement by the Federal Administration’. This provides instructions for a socially responsible and ecological procurement of workwear, linen and bedding.

Too late and without concrete implementation: The federal government needs to improve

Non-governmental organisations criticise the fact that the federal government is presenting a half-solution at best because the promised step-by-step plan for implementation is missing. “By 2020, the Federal Government already wanted to procure half of the textiles in a fair and sustainable manner. The goal is clearly missed. Only now comes the guide. After more than five years, the federal ministries have not been able to agree on a concrete step-by-step plan, so that the measures cannot be implemented in a structured and verifiable manner", says Christian Wimberger, Corporate Responsibility Officer at the Christian Initiative Romero (CIR). The Federal Government's response to a question from the Greens in the Bundestag shows that a draft for the step-by-step plan is currently being revised and then voted on by the Federal Government.

‘The step-by-step plan must be delivered as soon as possible. In addition, the Federal Government must finally adopt legal regulations for the protection of human rights and the environment in the procurement of textiles and other sensitive products such as laptops, food and natural stones!’, calls on Wimberger.

Supply Chain Act contributes to sustainable public procurement

"Only with consistent sustainable procurement can the federal government fulfil its role model vis-à-vis companies. The state should provide incentives to comply with due diligence obligations in the supply chain and at the same time show that sustainable procurement is possible", says Claudia Brück, board member of the non-profit association TransFair (Fairtrade Deutschland). According to the organisations, an important step is to adopt an effective supply chain law to ensure compliance with human rights and environmental standards by companies. The law on the agenda of today's special meeting of the Federal Government must include the exclusion of companies that have demonstrably violated their due diligence obligations from public procurement procedures. “In addition, procuring entities should be required to require companies to take concrete measures to implement their responsibilities with appropriate credible evidence,” asks Claudia Brück.

According to the twelve organizations, positive practical examples in municipalities show that public buyers can successfully demand demanding criteria from companies from different industries. In order for the enormous procurement volume of around 500 billion euros from the federal, state and local governments to be used in the sense of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), binding regulations and product-specific pilot projects at state and federal level are needed. The organisations that support this press release have been advocating sustainable public procurement for years and advising contracting authorities on specific projects.

Press contacts:

Christian Initiative Romero (CIR)
Christian Wimberger
Schillerstraße 44a, 48155 Münster
Telephone: 0251 / 67 44 13 - 21
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

TransFair e.V. / Fairtrade Germany
Edith Gmeiner
Maarweg 165, 50825 Cologne, Germany
Telephone: 0221 / 94 20 40 - 0
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The press release is supported by twelve organizations:

• Association of One World Country Networks in Germany e.V. (agl)
• Christian Initiative Romero e.V.
• CorA Corporate Responsibility Network
• Third World Forum Hannover
• Development Policy Network Saxony e.V.
• TransFair/Fairtrade Deutschland e.V.
• FEMNET e.V.
• Forum Fairer Handel e.V.
• SÜDWIND e.V.
• Clean Clothes Campaign
• vamos e.V.
• WEED e.V.