Towards a Sustainable Public Procurement System in Uruguay (10YFP Trust Fund Project)

The general objective is to transform Uruguay's Public Procurement System into a promoter for sustainable development, promoting the production of sustainable goods and services and a more efficient and sustainable consumption of the public sector. This will be achieved through the following specific objectives: - Design and Implement a National Policy for Sustainable Public Procurement and strengthen the existing legal framework to fully incorporate sustainability criteria in public procurement. - Develop a set of tools, guides and documents, based on sustainable criteria and the life cycle approach for products and services, to be implemented in the Public Procurement System of Uruguay. - Strengthen the capacity of public buyers and national suppliers for an optimal incorporation of sustainability criteria into their activities. - Design and implement a monitoring system, which can be used beyond the duration of the project, to control compliance with sustainability standards. At the end of 2017, the following activities have been carried out: - A working group was formed consisting of various State agencies having responsibilities related to social, environmental and economic sustainability. - A survey was made to assess the current status, identifying the sustainable criteria already incorporated in the current national regulations. Based on this survey, a series of improvement opportunities were identified and instruments are being developed to implement these already existing criteria, such as, for example, the drafting of regulatory decrees. - A set of products were selected on which to work in order to incorporate new sustainable criteria. The criteria were identified and the ability of local suppliers to meet these standards was assessed. - An analysis was made of the feasibility of applying the models of sustainable public procurement policies already used in other countries in Uruguay. Impact and results will be described at the closure of the project scheduled in November 2018. Contact: cps.inn@acce.gub.uy