News & Press Releases - Fair procurement for the public sector 16 May 2017 Bidders' dialogue on the call for tenders for work and safety shoes at the Office for Landscape Management and Green Areas of the City of Cologne Marie-Luise Lämmle from FEMNET explains: What evidence of fair production conditions is credible? What are the challenges for clean production, especially with work and safety shoes? Photo: © FEMNETTen representatives of manufacturers and trading companies for work and safety shoes discussed the requirements and possibilities of fair production with the city of Cologne. Employees in charge of procurement from numerous other municipalities also sat ‘at the round table’. Companies that apply for public tenders have to face new requirements when municipalities formulate social and environmental claims. Since 2017, we have been supporting the Office for Landscape Management and Green Areas of the City of Cologne in integrating sustainability criteria into its tenders for work and safety shoes. To ensure that the city receives good offers for shoes and that compliance with eco-social production conditions is anchored as a central competitive criterion, we spoke with manufacturers and dealers on 16 May 2017. Stefan Welzel from the Central Procurement Office and Peter Figgen and Markus Schulze from the Office for Landscape Conservation and Green Areas explained to the representatives of ten potential bidders for the tender the objectives and requirements that the city of Cologne pursues in its fair public procurement. Dr. Gisela Burckhardt and Marie-Luise Lämmle from FEMNET showed why a fair production method for clothing and shoes is necessary under human rights and what possibilities exist here. Inge Gätje from the Central Procurement Office of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and Nicole Thiele from the company Martin Natur reported on experiences to strengthen an eco-social procurement system as well as steps on the way to a socially and ecologically fair shoe and leather production. Project Manager Marie-Luise Lämmle summed up with satisfaction: “Entrepreneurs welcomed the intention to take specific account of eco-social criteria in the next calls for tenders. All participants contributed very effectively to the discussion on concrete evidence of socially and ecologically fair production. The feedback also showed: The circle of the willing and those convinced of the feasibility has widened and thus created an excellent foundation for the next calls for tenders.” Employees responsible for procurement from the cities of Aachen, Bonn, Duisburg, Oberhausen, Solingen and Stuttgart also took part in the bidding dialogue. Representatives of New Trade NRW were also present. They will use the findings of the event elsewhere in North Rhine-Westphalia and beyond for fair public procurement. Are you interested in the minutes of the Bidders' Dialogue? Then write an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
