The International Exchange Forum

On 25th-27th October 2022, the German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS, a SAPIENS Network Partner Organisation) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) hosted the International Exchange Forum on Sustainable Public Food Procurement 2022, a three-day event that created a space for procurement actors from academia, the public sector and civil society organisations to form partnerships and participate in exchanges on an international scale.

The objectives of the event were: to enable exploration of research and policy gaps based on the widespread participation of distinct stakeholders; to provide policymakers with insights on how to adapt their policies to pave the way toward sustainable agri-food systems; to share stories about challenges and barriers and how they can be overcome, so that others who want to follow suit can learn from them and adapt to their own context; and to foster mutual learning experiences and equip stakeholders to take collective action.

SAPIENS Network participation on the forum

The SAPIENS Network contributed to this international forum as following:

• Our Network Coordinator and Lead Researcher Roberto Caranta (Professor at the University of Turin) participated as a speaker in the Session 1: Linking public food procurement (PFP) to the broader Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) Debate;
• Our Lead Researcher Gustavo Piga (Professor at the University of Rome Tor Vergata) participated as a speaker in the Session 4: Overcoming challenges – Public procurement regulation; and
• Our Early Stage Researcher Felippe Santos (ESR n. 5, University of Gävle) participated as a moderator in the Session 5: Overcoming challenges – The inclusion of vulnerable groups and the Session 6: Overcoming challenges – The role of procurement officers and networks.

Main takeaways

In the Session 1: Linking PFP to the broader SPP Debate, Prof. Roberto Caranta highlighted that we are witnessing a remarkable shift in the public procurement role, from a transactional to a strategic one. According to Prof. Caranta, new tools for developing sustainability through public procurement, such as life-cycle cost, are being reinforced by public procurement regulations in several countries. The European Union’s (EU) 2014 public procurement law reform is an example of SPP empowerment, as well as other EU initiatives such as renovation wave on buildings and farm to fork, which are explicitly incorporating SPP. A key message of his speech was that the tyranny of lowest price (mechanical and soulless procurement) is out, now it’s time for incorporating wider sustainability issues in public procurement (fight climate change, deal with social issues). Another relevant point highlighted was that saving money is still an important part of public procurement, but from a long-term perspective instead of a traditional short-term one.

In Session 4: Overcoming challenges – Public procurement regulation, Prof. Gustavo Piga presented some challenges to the development of SPP that are relevant to sustainable public food procurement, including a complex economic context in which the legal procurement teams work. Prof. Piga presented a discussion of the objectives of public procurement (primary vs. secondary objectives): while the primary goals focus on efficiency, the secondary ones include sustainability issues. According to his presentation, a relevant concept for including sustainability issues in public procurement is value for money, but the multiplicity of stakeholders on SPP results in a hard conceptualization of value. This means that SPP requires interdisciplinary procurement teams that interact with stakeholders to develop sustainability solutions. Internal and external collaboration is then some of the pre-conditions of a good outcome in SPP, such as resources, organisational capacity, and procurement regulation. Prof. Piga highlighted that procurement regulation can contribute to SPP, as a necessary condition for a good outcome, but regulations are not enough. A key message of his speech is that capacity building and collaboration between procurers and small firms are key elements of SPP, as well as a regulation based on trust. The trust is then a relevant part of a successful SPP, including a trustable office of public procurement (with competence, attractiveness, autonomy, accountability, rewards, etc), acknowledged by the citizens.

The Session 5: Overcoming challenges – The inclusion of vulnerable groups, moderated by Felippe Santos, explored the potential of public food procurement initiatives to support vulnerable producers’ groups (such as women and family farmers), presenting examples of benefits, challenges and strategies adopted for this implementation. He also moderated the Session 6: Overcoming challenges – The role of procurement officers and networks, which discussed the role of procurement officers and their networks in the implementation of successful sustainable food procurement initiatives. Some points highlighted were how the procurement officers and their networks can contribute to this process, the challenges they face, and the strategies that could be adopted to support them.

Presentations and report

The presentations (Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3, accessible using a password sent to the participants) and a report (in English, Spanish, and French) with the knowledge and experiences shared during the forum are available at the event website.

Roberto Caranta

Lead Researcher

Professor at the Law Department, University of Turin

Gustavo Piga

Lead Researcher

Professor of Economics, University of Rome Tor Vergata

Felippe Santos

Early Stage Researcher n. 5, University of Gävle