Final Report of the International Working Group on Ethics in Public Procurement for IT

The first edition of the International Working Group on Ethics in Public Procurement for IT started in 2021 and it continued with the second edition in 2022. It brought together leading European public buyers of IT as a means for exchange, stock taking, discussion and identification of actions towards a next-generation ethical procurement of IT.
Keys objectives included to:
● Bring together frontrunners (policy-makers and procurers) regularly,
● Gather the latest insights on best practices and challenges from public
authorities as preparatory research that could enable learning, development
of new criteria or engagement with market actors,
● Identify concrete actions to be taken for ethical procurement practice,
● Enable exchanges between procurement and policy perspective,
● Connect key outputs to other relevant European and international work.
At its core, the group consisted of the following 27 committed members from 11 European countries, including Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Norway, the
Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.
They were recruited by the Secretariat based on clear criteria at the start of the work programme, with emphasis on frontrunners from different levels of government. In close collaboration with FISD, the ICLEI Team coordinated and shaped the Secretariat’s work.
The initial needs assessment done by ICLEI clearly showed that the level of experience within the group varies, but the commitment towards ethical procurement of ICT was generally high. Additionally, it showed the group’s main interest in the topics of labels, ethical batteries for electric vehicles (EVs), how to address exposure of workers to chemicals of concern, how to address working conditions at the end of life/re-use/disposal stage and effective due diligence. Therefore, the Secretariat aligned the work plan and its planned actions with the participants’ interests. This report summarizes the work done in the 2022 edition of the International Working Group on Ethics in Public Procurement