This is the project website for the revision of the Green Public Procurement (GPP) criteria for "Office Buildings" [SWD (2016) 180 final]. This study is being carried out by the Joint Research Centre's Directorate B - Growth and Innovation (JRC). The work is being developed for the European Commission's Directorate General for the Environment.
The revision process shall include the consideration of expanding the scope to other types of buildings purchased and/or maintained by public authorities, in particular schools and social housing. Criteria proposals will also try to be in line with recent policy developments relating to the Renovation Wave, the Level(s) common framework and the EU Taxonomy.
The GPP criteria will be based on the requirements addressed in EU Communication COM(2008) 400 "Public Procurement for a better Environment". The purpose of this project is to revise the EU GPP criteria for office buildings in order to have updated criteria that reflect current market trends and that link to developments in European policy, legislation and technical standards.
Green Public Procurement criteria aim to be clear and ambitious environmental criteria, based on a life-cycle approach and a scientific evidence base. During the project, ongoing dialogue and frequent consultation is foreseen with stakeholders such as building owners, building managers, engineering firms, architects, construction product manufacturers, consumer organizations, NGOs and procurers, with a view to building consensus about the criteria.
The main types of criteria involved are: selection criteria (what requirements a tenderer must meet to be allowed to bid); technical specifications (what requirements must be met be all bids received); award criteria (additional optional requirements that, if met, will make a bid more competitive) and contract performance clauses (specific measures that are taken to ensure that certain aspects of the winning bid have been met during the project or after the project is completed).
Two levels of ambition are foreseen for technical specifications and award criteria: “core level” and “comprehensive level”. Core criteria are considered as those that allow a relatively straightforward application of GPP, keeping administrative costs for a company to a minimum. Comprehensive criteria continue to focus on environmental performance, but with a higher ambition level and in such a way that might require more thinking by authorities and involve more effort from bidders about how to achieve this higher ambition.
Stakeholder involvement is a crucial part of the study. If you would like to be involved in the consultation process, you can do so through the website, by registering as a stakeholder. The registered stakeholders will be regularly informed about the progress of the study, can respond to questionnaires and/or participate in stakeholder meetings.
If you would like to contact us directly, we refer to the contact details of the project team.
