Joining forces for a sustainable procurement in small municipalities

Introducing sustainability considerations into public procurement practices is a challenge, especially for small and medium-sized municipalities. Although there are a number of tools that support sustainable procurement, such as manuals, brochures, online platforms with information on labels, good practice examples and criteria for sustainable procurement, experience shows that many administrations, especially in smaller municipalities, have difficulties in implementing sustainable procurement. Existing information is often overwhelming and too complex. For small municipalities, there is no clearly defined procedure for applying sustainable procurement. The proCURE project aims to educate municipal staff and policy makers in smaller municipalities on sustainable public procurement. To support reaching the above objective, the following products will be developed: - toolkit and handbook for implementing sustainable public procurement practices in municipalities, - curriculum, including teaching material for public administration schools, to train future procurers, - train-the-trainer course, - process for collaborative sustainable public procurement, - podcasts and videos for awareness raising and stakeholder training purposes. The project partnership consists of institutions from Austria (IFZ Graz), Germany (Allianz in den Alpen, agado), Italy (Fondazione Ecosistemi) and Slovenia (Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia). Allianz in den Alpen performs the lead partner role.