Ibbenbüren sets an example for North Rhine-Westphalia by exploiting new opportunities for sustainable procurement – corsus provides support through training

In North Rhine-Westphalia, many municipal procurement regulations will be abolished at the turn of the year, forcing local authorities to reorient themselves. On the one hand, they will be able to act more freely and with less bureaucracy, but on the other hand, there is a risk of legal uncertainty and corresponding complaints from suppliers. Dr Krishan Gairola prepared the Ibbenbüren administration for new socio-ecological freedoms during an internal administration training course.

With the abolition of procurement rules, local authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia can take advantage of new scope to make their procurement both sustainable and less bureaucratic. For example, it can become much easier to procure products regionally with short transport routes, a criterion that until now could only be taken into account indirectly via transport emissions.

What a newly aligned sustainable procurement process might look like was one of the topics covered in the procurement training session for the city of Ibbenbüren on 9 October. During the full-day event, our colleague Krishan Gairola worked with department heads and employees to run through a practical approach to sustainable procurement and systematically organise existing tools and information. The focus was on ecological sustainability in the form of climate, nature and environmental protection, social sustainability through the protection of health and human rights, and, last but not least, economic sustainability through alternatives to new purchases, among other things.

Training course on sustainable procurement in Ibbenbüren (Source: City of Ibbenbüren / Max Bertemes)

The aim was to enable employees to select and evaluate appropriate sustainability criteria and evidence for various products. This is because local authorities as a whole have billions of pounds worth of economic leverage to establish social and environmental standards in the supply chain and thus protect the common good. And this is often achieved with manageable additional costs, especially when the entire period of use is taken into account. However, the complexity of the subject matter often stands in the way of implementation. This is where the training came in, showing, for example, how sustainable procurement can be achieved by selecting a few key criteria using lean procedures.

At the end of the training, the Ibbenbüren administration was confident and motivated to use the new freedoms for the common good. The next step is to draw up its own guidelines for sustainable procurement that are as binding as possible. We are delighted with the great feedback on the event and wish them every success in its implementation.

corsus advises and supports cities and municipalities in the introduction and implementation of socio-ecological procurement. Based on the individual local situation, corsus ensures the involvement of key players, creates trainings and guidelines, and gets the implementation process underway.