Barcelona wins European procurement prize

Barcelona has been awarded a European prize for implementing compulsory sustainable procurement. Awarded by Procura+, a network of some 40 public authorities in Europe that promote sustainable procurement, the prize recognizes a city council decree making Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) mandatory.

Specifically, the 'Procurement Initiative of the Year' award recognizes outstanding processes and actions towards strategic, sustainable and innovation procurement. The measure for which Barcelona won the prize has an effect on more than 50,000 tenders annually, and covers spending of 1.1 billion euros.

The councilor in charge of ecology, Frederic Ximeno, picked up the prize in Nijmegen, in the Netherlands, and pointed out that socially and environmentally responsible public procurement "is a tool for moving towards fairer cities, with fewer inequalities, with more dignified jobs, that take on climate and environmental challenges."

The measure in question, which was passed in April 2017, sets out guidelines for public procurement that aim to improve social and labour conditions, to promote the participation of SMEs and the social economy, to protect the environment, and to foster innovation.

Reduction in consumption of resources

For Barcelona, public procurement is an economic policy tool that goes further than simply acquiring goods and services. Since 2001, the strategic use of procurement has led to a significant reduction in the consumption of resources and power, with for example, annual savings of 36,000 tonnes of CO2 thanks to the purchase of renewable energy only.