ICLEI Member Haarlem (The Netherlands) joined one other municipality and two public agencies as the winners of this year's edition of the prestigious Procura+ sustainable procurement awards.

The City of Haarlem won in the category “Procurement Initiative of the Year”; while the Belgian Public Centre for Sustainability and Innovation in Construction (KampC) won in the “Sustainable Procurement of the Year” category; the City of Koprivnica (Croatia) won the “Innovation Procurement of the Year” category; and the Austrian Federal Real Estate Agency (BIG) won the “Outstanding Innovation Procurement in ICT”.

The winners were announced in a virtual awards ceremony, which took place on 1 October 2020 as part of the “Environmental Considerations in Public Procurement in Europe” conference, hosted by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and the German Environment Agency.

The City of Haarlem won Procurement Initiative of the Year for their cooperative approach to supplier management to achieve a circular and sustainable city. The city has worked closely with public maintenance suppliers to create trust partnerships where suppliers ensure that social and sustainability goals are met, while also giving them the freedom to innovate in how they deliver their services.

The “Sustainable Procurement of the Year” Award went to KampC, which took the need for a new office building as an opportunity to raise the bar in sustainable and circular construction via a procurement process that incorporated all aspects of circularity in construction.

For excellent use of innovation procurement in the extensive reconstruction of the City of Koprivnica was awarded the "Innovation Procurement of the Year" prize. ICLEI Member Malmö (Sweden) was the runner-up in this category, recognised for its innovative and ethical information and communication technologies (ICT) procurement process.

The Austrian Federal Real Estate Agency (BIG) won the “Outstanding Innovation Procurement in ICT” Award thanks to its innovative approach of using software for sustainable real estate management, supported by an innovation partnership.

“All these fantastic procurements show that there is great creativity when it comes to driving development and producing new solutions to societal challenges,” said jury member Johanna Engberg, Strategist Innovation Procurement, Swedish Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement.

The jury for this years’ Procura+ Award comprised of Marzena Rogalska, Director, European Commission DG Grow; Erika Bozzay, Senior Policy Advisor, OECD; Johanna Enberg, Strategist Innovation Procurement, Swedish Competence Centre for Innovation Procurement; and Mark Hidson, Global Director, ICLEI's Sustainable Procurement Centre.

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