News & Press Releases - Fair procurement for the public sector The future multipliers for fair public procurement. © FEMNET 29 May 2019 Ahead with new strength - team of experts grows for more sustainability in public procurement The important market power of the public sector is increasingly becoming the focus of public attention: In NRW alone, public authorities and municipalities consume for around €50 billion per year. Other municipalities want to make sure that the products they buy are not produced under inhumane conditions. In order to accompany them in the individual steps, FEMNET has Education and training of multipliers Continued this year as well. The personal and professional backgrounds of the participants reflect the social spectrum in which the topic of fair public procurement begins to gain a foothold. Employees of the local government – in particular coordinators of local development policy, project managers of the FaireKITA project, a world of promoters, students from the fashion and business sectors as well as privately interested and committed people from different regions of Germany took part in the training. Different levels of knowledge and backgrounds of experience were very beneficial to the mutual exchange. How can we make public procurement fair? At the beginning of the training, the group dealt with the working conditions in the global clothing industry, which are the background to socially responsible procurement. Which human rights are most frequently violated? What standards should we demand from clothing manufacturers as a minimum in order to speak of at least fundamentally fair production? The programme provided ample space for exchange of experience and questions. Why switch to eco-fair procurement? What are the typical hurdles in municipalities? How can they be overcome? The simulation game ‘A municipality makes its way’ shows various positions that can occur in a municipality to introduce fair procurement criteria. © FEMNETUsing a simulation game, the different positions that can prevail in a municipality on this topic and the challenges that the participants will face in their deployment became clear. Here, too, the different backgrounds and experiences of the participants proved helpful in gathering ideas and tips on how to implement a pilot project in reality. On day 2, the programme included the introduction of public procurement principles to promote fair public procurement of textiles. André Siedenberg, lawyer for public procurement law, explained to the participants where eco-fair criteria can be incorporated into the public procurement procedure. Contrary to the widespread assumption that only the price of a purchase is decisive for the award, quality criteria – including production conditions – may also be assessed. According to the Bonn Declaration of the Courts of Auditors, there should be a direct link between the Sustainable Development Goals and good governance. In addition to the legal framework for fair public procurement, strategies for addressing municipalities were discussed and plans for the next steps were drawn up. All topics will be deepened in the second part of the training on 27 and 28 September 2019 in Cologne. Until then, we wish all participants every success in taking the next steps.Step by step. Your way to fair public procurement of service and protective clothing" (PDF file) to go to your municipality. New to the topic? There are still places left for them. Basic training on 27-28 September 2019 in Cologne. Do you have prior knowledge? An advanced training course will take place on 25-26 October 2019 in Cologne. The call for tenders follows.
