Strategic Public Procurement

Public procurement is the process used by municipalities and other institutions to buy goods, services and works which enable them to deliver their activities. At URBACT we see procurement as a strategic lever that cities can use to address the economic, social and environmental challenges they face. We think procurement could be used to create jobs and apprenticeships, to develop workers skills and reduce carbon emissions. We call this strategic procurement.

Drawing upon the activities from previous networks, URBACT has developed a free online course to equip cities with the knowledge and tools required to embed social and environmental criteria into the process of public procurement and to progress strategic procurement. 

Start learning with the course here!

How can city authorities make gender equality a fundamental, integral part of public procurement? Is it possible to combat gender-based inequalities through procurement processes? These key questions are the focus of the online course on Gender Responsive Public Procurement.

Start learning with the course here!

Over 8 million catered meals a day are provided across Europe, with around 50% of these through procurement contracts with public sector institutions and at an estimated value of EUR 82 billion.

But how many of these meals are made with local, seasonal, organic food (or from reasoned agriculture)? And consequently, how much is the local market concerned by these procurement contracts? 

Discover our online course here and take the first steps for a better food procurement in your city!

Back in 2015, the work of the PROCURE Action Planning Network paved the way for a future generation of URBACT cities eager to enhance their procurement processes. The core learning from the network was that procurement has to be viewed as a cycle: the Cycle of Procurement. In 2018, the Making Spend Matter Transfer Network started working on transferring one of the key steps of the cycle, called Spend Analysis, across EU seven cities.

Most recently, the CO4CITIES innovation transfer pilot, the Cities4CSR Action Planning Network and the BioCanteens#2 Transfer Network have concluded their activities in 2022. All these projects have also contributed to the reflections of how cities can leverage public procurement at local level. Today, the GenProcure Action Planning Network is exploring how cities can further develop gender-responsive processes.

Since 2017, URBACT and the City of Preston have been contributing to the Urban Agenda Partnership on Public Procurement pushing forward public procurement as a strategic driver to help public authorities solve challenges they are dealing with, be they social, economic or environmental. URBACT has co-developed the action Enabling Sustainable Economic Recovery through Public Procurement in the partnership's original action plan and the programme has continued its contribution until 2024.