Project Implementor

Kaunas Regional Development Agency

Title of the Project

Promoting Environmental Procurement in Kaunas Region, No. BPD2004-ERPF-1.3.0-05-06/0056

Target Groups of the Project

• Administrative employees of municipalities and public purchasing authorities;
• Business groups – enterprises, submitting bids in public procurement;
• Society.

Public authorities are major consumers in Europe, spending some 16% of the EU’s GDP (gross domestic product). Most of the services not only for public sector but also for residents are purchased through public procurement. Therefore public authorities can significantly promote sustainable development by procuring eco-friendly goods, services and works for everyday needs while applying environmental assessment criteria for public procurement.

The political decisions of sustainable public procurement have been already awarded: they are mentioned in strategies and national action plans, since sustainable public procurement is considered as one of the most effective tools for environmental policy implementation.

With the help of sustainable public procurement the following objectives foreseen in the EU sustainable development strategy will be achieved:

• Promoting and implementing green technology development;
• Promoting sustainable consumption and production by addressing social and economic development within the carrying capacity of ecosystems and decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation;
• Improving the environmental and social performance for products and processes and encouraging their uptake by business and consumers.

The need to implement sustainable public procurement is growing slowly in Lithuania. Currently the rule of green public procurement (this term was introduced in the Strategy) is foreseen to be implemented in Long-term Economic Development Strategy of Lithuania until 2015. The implementation of this policy is also foreseen under the provisions of National sustainable development strategy. It is foreseen to formulate recommendations for purchasing authorities how to define optimal environmental criteria while procuring and techniques for tender evaluation enabling to estimate the impact of goods for the environment in the whole life-cycle. These techniques haven’t been prepared until now. Despite the political decisions in the strategic level, there is no clear action plan in Lithuania how environmental criteria should be implemented in public procurement.

The duration of the Project: 15 months

The start of the Project: February, 2007

The closure of the Project: April, 2008

Approved budget of the Project: 186 087, 89 Litas