Case Study 44

Barcelona Regional Council (Diputació de Barcelona) is currently leading a joint procurement (JP) activity within the LEAP project for recycled paper for a number of local authorities in the region. Although the activity is not yet complete, the case study offers an interesting insight into possible approaches for overcoming barriers to setting up JP in countries which are unfamiliar with the concept.

As with the LEAP JP activities in Greece – <case study 38 – JP of recycled paper in Greece> and Portugal – <case study 45 – JP of recycled paper in Portugal> it was decided that recycled paper was the ideal product with which to introduce the concept of JP to the country. Requirements do not vary much from authority to authority, and spending is relatively low. It therefore presents a simple product with low financial risk, with which to test JP procedures. The market for high-quality recycled paper is also not as highly developed in these countries as elsewhere in Europe, and as such JP may prove a useful market driver.

Overcoming internal barriers to setting up joint procurement
It has been necessary to overcome a number of substantial barriers in the Diputació in order to undertake a JP activity integrating environmental requirements. One of the main problems is that the Diputació, as in the majority of Catalan and Spanish municipalities, is only just beginning to consider implementing green procurement, therefore there is a lack of the necessary awareness, knowledge and skills to introduce green criteria in procurement activities. Moreover, the Diputació had never undertaken a joint procurement action. As the process was new it was necessary to evaluate different procedures in order to find the most suitable way for all interested authorities that take part in the JP action to procure together.

• There is no mandatory regulation in the regional government to implement green procurement. Consequently it is difficult to get political and technical commitment to shift to greener products and services. Moreover, at the moment there is no national regulation to develop green procurement in Spain or in Catalonia. This would be necessary to facilitate political commitment to develop further green public procurement in local authorities.
• As in many authorities, in the Diputació it is usually the environmental department promoting the implementation of sustainable public procurement, with those directly responsible for purchasing activity less interested. Moreover the departments responsible for procurement are often averse to changing existing practices, such as long-standing arrangements with local and/or reliable suppliers.
• The procurement dynamics are difficult to change. The procurement departments in the Diputació, as in many municipalities, are not used to introducing environmental requirements in the purchase of goods and services, tending to think that green products will be expensive or that they will be worse quality.
• In the Diputació, and in some municipalities contacted for the JP activity, there is an existing contract to purchase paper therefore it has been difficult or impossible to take part in the joint procurement.
• It was the first time that strong environmental specifications have been introduced into tender documents. As such technical advice was needed on which requirements to use and how to introduce them in the tender documents.

The main solutions implemented in order to solve the problems encountered are as follows:

• To develop the JP activity the LEAP team in the Environmental Department mainly worked with technicians who were already aware of the importance of introducing environmental requirements in purchases. It was realised that it is easier to get environmental technicians involved than procurers. However, in the authorities that have more experience introducing green procurement, those in charge of procurement were directly interested in taking part in the JP activity.
• The Diputació is starting to implement a Resources Optimisation Plan that involves all departments of the government in order to further develop the sustainable use of resources and sustainable procurement.
• Throughout the project the LEAP team has strengthened the contacts and relationships between procurement departments and the environmental department the Diputació which has been critical in developing common actions to implement further green procurement. However, it was still difficult to participate in a JP for recycled paper for all departments of the Diputació because a) it was not the responsibility of the Environmental Department, and b) the Diputació already has a contract to buy TFC paper that finishes next year. As a solution it was decided that the Environmental Department would directly purchase recycled paper.
• In order to raise the awareness and knowledge of green procurement the LEAP team is holding a series of seminars for local municipalities, each focusing on a specific product. The first was about recycled paper and was a very useful opportunity for the participants to learn about the environmental specifications for this product and to have more information about the market.
• The environmental purchasing criteria were developed by external experts within the LEAP project, providing European best practice. The tender documents were then revised through different meetings with the municipalities interested in participating.
• The assessment of the Diputació’s legal and administrative advisers has been crucial in finding the most suitable procedure for carrying out a JP activity with municipalities. 

Recruiting additional authorities

In order to find municipalities interested in undertaking a JP activity the LEAP team contacted the municipalities that are members of the Network of Towns and Cities towards Sustainability of Catalonia. This is an association of municipalities created in 1997 committed to advance towards sustainable development. At present 220 local authorities make up the network which represents 78% of the population of Catalonia. the Diputació has assumed the role of Technical Secretariat for the Network.

In April 2004 the working group on “green purchasing and responsible consumption” (GPP) was set up. It is composed of 25 municipalities and coordinated by a committee of 4 municipalities. The JP activity was first presented to the committee of this working group and later extended to all the members of the Network.

Moreover the LEAP team has held different seminars that addressed green procurement for different types of products. More than 70 municipalities participated in the first seminar in order to discuss environmental requirements and market characteristics for recycled paper.

Joint procurement model followed

The procedure for JP has been defined and revised through different meetings with:

• The Diputació’s legal advisers
• The committee and municipalities of the GPP workgroup.

The following steps were taken:

1. Finding municipalities interested in the JP activity:

In order to find municipalities interested in the JP activity the LEAP team held a series of meetings with municipalities of the Network of Towns and Cities towards Sustainability and with the Network’s working group on GPP.

Meetings with municipalities:
12/12/2005: First meeting with the committee of the GPP working group.

Meetings with municipalities of the GPP working group and other municipalities of the Network interested in the JP:

• 14/2/06: Presentation of the JP activity, discussing the product to purchase and the JP benefits and procedure.
• 29/03/06: Revising and defining the environmental specifications for buying recycled paper and defining the JP procedure. Different possibilities were discussed such as setting up a consortium; tendering together with the Diputació buying on behalf of all municipalities; tendering together with each authority directly buying its products from the supplier.
• 3/05/06: Setting the paper quantities to purchase, revising the technical document and the collaboration agreement (see below). Technical support of the secretary of the Network and the head of the administrative department in the Environmental Service of the Diputació.
• 8/06/06: Final revision of the technical document and of the collaboration agreement. Technical support of experts on green procurement and of the secretary of the Network and the head of the administrative department in the Environmental Service of the Diputació.

Mailing
Before and after each meeting held with municipalities a mail was sent to all the municipalities of the GPP working group and other municipalities of the Network interested on the JP activity, together with the minutes of the meetings and extra information concerning the JP activity and the tender documents that had to be revised and approved. The final email with the final version of the tender documents has been sent to all municipalities of the Network in order to get as many authorities as possible involved in the JP action.
Defining the characteristics and interests of each municipality regarding paper purchasing
A questionnaire was send to each municipality interested in the JP in order to know the characteristics of the paper that they are currently buying, information about their suppliers and quantities that they would like to purchase with the JP action. Eight municipalities answered the questionnaire.

2. Technical document: Paper specifications

To develop the tender documents the following steps were carried out:

a. Receiving the recycled paper criteria developed within the LEAP  
project.
b. Analysing if the paper that the Diputació is currently buying meets these criteria.
c. Using these criteria as a reference to develop the technical tender document.
d. Revising the technical tender document with the Diputació’s legal advisers.
e. Revising the technical tender document with municipalities interested in the JP activity.
f. Revising the technical tender document with Green Procurement experts.
g. Approving with municipalities the final version of the technical tender document.

The minimum requirements for buying recycled paper specified in the LEAP project, used as the base to develop our technical document are included below, and are also included in Appendix 10.1 to Tool 4 – <Tool D appendix 10.1>: