On 6-9 April, the University of Rome Tor Vergata, one of the Beneficiaries of the SAPIENS Network, hosted the third Advanced Training Course (ATC). The event was held at Villa Mondragone, in Frascati (Rome). 

The theme of the third ATC focused on Actors in Developing SPP Rules and Best Practices for Early Stage Researchers (ESRs). The goal was to provide an overview on global leadership for Sustainable Procurement, exploring the role and the perspectives of different actors such as multilateral and national institutions, public authorities, private companies and academia, involved in developing SPP rules and best practices across the globe.

The three-day training consisted of 4 panels (Reconciling Social and Green Issues across the Globe, Multilateral Institutions for Sustainable Procurement, Global Stakeholders for Sustainable Procurement, Round Table: Fighting for Sustainable Public Procurement), one Guest Lecture on Sustainable Supply Chain Management given by the SAPIENS external expert Prof. Stephan Seuring and the SAPIENS Project Meetings where ESRs (our Phds) presented their research progress, followed by a team-building day.

In addition to the SAPIENS lead researchers and 15 ESRs working on sustainability and procurement, the event attracted more than 20 external participants joining in-person and online. The external participants included researchers, procurement officials and practitioners and representatives of international organisations. Procurement experts from SAPIENS Partner Organizations – such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the George Washington University Law School – and from international organizations – such as the World Bank, FAO and IFAD – were amongst the speakers.

After a welcome address by SAPIENS Lead Researchers Prof. Gustavo Piga and Prof. Andrea Appolloni from the host University of Rome Tor Vergata, the first afternoon of ATC3 started with the panel “Reconciling Social and Green Issues Across the Globe”. Prof. Annamaria La Chimia (Nottingham University) opened the discussion by introducing the relevance of sustainable public procurement and pointing out that gender-blind procurement can exacerbate gender inequalities. She then discussed how public procurement, which has implications on both supply and demand, might contribute to women’s empowerment. Her presentation was followed by Vinay Sharma’s (World Bank) speech on the use of public procurement to enhance economic growth and development effectiveness. Mr. Sharma emphasized the importance of rethinking the concept of Value for Money in light of countries’ socio-economic policy imperatives and the need to build a global coalition of policymakers, purchasers, suppliers, and other stakeholders to realize the full potential of public procurement. Finally, Prof. Steven L. Schooner (George Washington University) concluded the session by stressing the need of consumer-based approaches and performance measurement in public procurement. He highlighted that Life Cycle Cost analysis is a growing global best practice with regard to public procurement since it is the best representational tool for the measurement of Value for money.

The second panel of the day focused on “Multilateral Institutions for Sustainable Procurement”. Dirk Plutz (EBRD), Luana Swenssons (FAO) and Priscilla Torres (IFAD) provided an overview of the work done by these multilateral institutions to foster Sustainable Public Procurement. Dirk Plutz explained how the EBRD’s green and social agenda is integrated throughout the procurement process: policy dialogue with countries of operations, preliminary identification and inclusion of relevant social and environmental aspects in procurement documents, use of an e-procurement system to monitor green and social aspects, requests for ESHS certificates and other compliance requirements are among the main features of the EBRD’s approach. Luana Swenssons gave a presentation on FAO work on Sustainable Public Food Procurement, emphasizing the related benefits for food producers, consumers and communities, and presenting FAO’s initiatives to support both the supply and demand sides, as well as improvements at policy, institutional, and legal levels. Finally, Priscilla Torres focused on the role of public procurement in IFAD-funded projects, pointing out the importance of designing fit-for-purpose solutions and strengthening national procurement systems to support sustainable development objectives.

Day 2 opened with the panel “Global Stakeholders for Sustainable Procurement”. Prof. Rodrigo Lozano (University of Gävle) delivered a presentation on the role of stakeholders in contributing to sustainability. He discussed the four dimensions of sustainability, the stakeholder theory and different strategies for accounting for diverse stakeholder typologies, as well as how these concepts apply to public procurement. Afterwards, Federico Budassi (EcoVadis) gave a presentation on the integration of ratings of supplier sustainability performance into public procurement. He described EcoVadis’s three-pronged approach to assess sustainability during the tender preparation, the offer selection and at the contract performance stage, also complementing with related case studies. Finally, Daniel Morris’ (Danish Institute for Human Rights) presentation focused on the incorporation of human rights into public procurement. While the approach of giving preference or reserving procurement for vulnerable groups is prevalent, he observed that human rights due diligence can be used to introduce protection against human rights abuses in supply chains. He illustrated how the DIHR is implementing human rights due diligence in a way to cascade the requirements down and ensure people’s rights are realized throughout supply chains.

The second day of training continued with three Project Meetings addressed to SAPIENS Network members, during which the ESRs presented their PhD research progress. Three projects with common aspects were presented in each session. The first session on “Rules for a sustainable global game” consisted of ESR1: SAP and Third Generation Free Trade Agreements (top down approach); ESR7: Enforcing Sustainability and Social Requirements in Contract Performance and ESR8: Protecting Human Rights and Dignity through SAP. The second session on “Sustainable environment and climate” covered ESR3: SAP and Circular Economy; ESR12: SAP Tools to Fight Climate Change and ESR15: Bringing Sustainability to the Collective Table. In the third session on “Sustainable global supply chains” ESR2: Developing SAP Solutions at the Global Level (bottom up approach); ESR5: Delivering SAP through Collaboration and ESR14: SAP Tools for Circular Textiles were presented.

SAPIENS lead researchers and external experts provided feedback to the ESRs. These were the second ESR presentations, which take place every six months to monitor the progress of their research. They are also a useful tool for providing each ESR with the necessary presentation and communication skills, as they will be engaging with the public during their research and sharing the outcomes. The feedback received during the presentation is intended to help the young researchers in ensuring rigorous scientific quality of their work .

Day 2 was concluded by a Special Lecture by Stephan Seuring, Professor of Supply Chain Management at Kassel University and SAPIENS external expert. In his Lecture, Prof. Seuring focused on the role and use of theory in structured literature reviews, providing some examples from his own research in sustainable supply chain management.

Day 3 opened with the round table “Fighting for Sustainable Public Procurement”. Hanadi Al-Nabulsi (Kingdom of Jordan) presented the work carried out by Jordan’s Government Procurement Department, as well as some recent reforms focusing on SMEs, electronic procurement and independent complaints mechanisms. She also discussed the progress and challenges of incorporating sustainability considerations into Jordan’s public procurement. The following presentation by Francesca Di Carlo (ENEL energy company) focused on ENEL’s approach to embedding sustainability along the value chain. Environmental and social sustainability K-factors, tender requirements and qualification and contractual requirements adopted by ENEL were illustrated in detail. Drawing from his experience as Chair of SCR Piemonte – an italian central purchasing body at regional level – Prof. Mario Comba (University of Turin, formerly SCR Piedmont) discussed some aspects of social public procurement in Italy, illustrating relevant rules for workers’ protection and practical issues arising from them. Finally, Prof. Fuguo Cao (Central University of Finance and Economics) concluded the panel discussion by providing an overview of China’s current policy and regulatory framework for sustainable public procurement, as well as presenting some findings from an assessment of SPP implementation and patterns.

The third day of training was concluded by two Project Meetings. The one on “Sustainable industry and construction” presented ESR4: Industry 4.0 for Sustainable Procurement; ESR6: Measuring LCC – The Measurement of Sustainability Impact in Contracts and ESR13: Fostering SAP in Construction. Finally, the last session “Towards an inclusive economy” covered ESR9: Empowering Minorities and Disadvantaged Groups through Supply Chains; ESR10: Gender Smart Procurement Systems and ESR11: Empowering SMEs, Start-ups, and Social Enterprises.

The last day of the ATC was dedicated to a team building activity. The institutional visit at Quirinale Palace, residence of the President of the Italian Republic in Rome, was a valuable addition to the event to learn more about relevant aspects of Italian history and institutional dynamics and build relationships that will help project development.

The videos from all the sessions will be posted soon on our website, and we will distribute them through our newsletter.

The next ATC is planned to take place on 15-17 June in Gävle, Sweden.