Femnet e.V.

News & Press Releases - Fair procurement for the public sector

Under the magnifying glass: Evidence management in fair urban procurement

FEMNET accompanied the public tenders of the cities of Bonn, Cologne and Stuttgart. Now let's summarize our findings in a handbook: In particular, we use quality labels and questionnaires to take a closer look at the documentation.

Handbook for Procurement Managers

This brochure is aimed at procurement managers in cities and large municipalities who are involved in the introduction and further development of fair procurement practices. Based on the tenders accompanied by FEMNET with the cities of Bonn, Cologne and Stuttgart, the tender models for the fair procurement of service and protective clothing or safety shoes with proof checks, which can also be used beyond existing quality labels, are presented in detail here.

Use existing quality labels

There are still no consistently fair and ecologically produced workwear and safety shoes. Nevertheless, procurers can already rely on existing quality labels for many product groups. In many cases, these cover at least the ILO core labour standards in assembly.

Alternative documentation with questionnaires

Even in product groups for which there are not yet many suitable proofs, it is possible to filter out manufacturers who already take on more responsibility than others by means of an alternative proof guide. Appropriate measures and a questionnaire for the evaluation of social and ecological criteria have proven to be useful evidence beyond existing quality labels. These tried-and-tested possibilities are complemented by an analysis of the evidence that can be submitted. Evidence that has not been accepted is also explained, so that this can be oriented towards further procurements.