Green Public Procurement: transferring experience from Slovakia to Ukraine

The educational Ukrainian-Slovak project was developed to teach civil servants, responsible for tender procedures, on how to use principles and benefits of “ecological procurement”. Goal: To promote the idea of Green Public Procurement in Ukraine by providing evidence of GPP’s positive impact based on the Slovak experience. The project also helps public authorities to successfully plan and implement GPP. Objectives: Conduct an analysis of current state of GPP in Ukraine; Compose the recommendations for GPP introduction in Ukraine based on the legislation of the country and on the Slovakian experience; Raise awareness on GPP among public authorities and citizens of Ukraine; Conduct training for procurement officers of public authorities on how to implement GPP; Conduct a seminar on GPP for all interested parties. The major result achieved: an online educational course aiming at raising awareness of Ukrainian public procurement officers is developed and uploaded on the Edubox platform – the major educational platform on the public procurement in Ukraine, managed by the state enterprise ProZorro (public e-procurement system). The training course is available on the online platform http://chamilo.sccd-sk.org/. The course consists of 3 lecture modules, each one designed for 1 week of online training. At the end of each module the course attendant is offered to complete the test to examine the knowledge gained during the week. The course’s content: Module 1 – Green Procurement Policy, Principles and Methods. The module covers the following topics: Concepts: “Public Procurement”, “product life cycle”; Definition of “responsible consumption” as one of the United Nations global goals of sustainable development; Ukraine’s commitments under the Association Agreement with the EU; Legislative consolidation of environmental values and principles of sustainable consumption and production. Module 2 – Selection Criteria. This module compares two approaches to the selection of works / goods / services: The traditional approach, based mostly on price and quality criteria; The GPP approach – which includes not only the price criterion but requirements for environmental protection, human health and other qualification criteria as well. Module 3 – Option Criteria. The module describes in detail the “product life cycle” concept. The focus is made on the fact that when choosing products it is necessary to consider not only the initial purchase price of the goods but also all future costs, in particular: Purchase price and all related costs (delivery, installation, adjustment, etc.); operating expenses (consumption of energy or water resources, fuel, spare parts and maintenance); Warranty period and operating life specified in the manufacturer’s warranties.