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The EU-funded project INNPROBIO engaged with procurers and practitioners across Europe, stimulating dialogue on public-sector purchases of biobased products and services and addressing common questions. One of its main achievements is the production of a handbook and an online decision support tool for public procurers, which offers insights into all stages of the procurement process.
‘The handbook covers all the main aspects addressed by INNPROBIO,’ says project coordinator Moritz Westkämper of FNR (Fachagentur Nachwachsende Rohstoffe e.V.), Germany’s central coordinating Agency for Renewable Resources. ‘It provides a guideline that public procurers can simply follow to create tenders in favour of biobased products and services.’
This guidance notably comprises text blocks public authorities can use to specify their requirements, which Westkämper describes as particularly helpful given the complexities and pitfalls of wording tender specifications. It draws on the various publications and tools produced by the project, all of which are freely available online. These include resources as diverse as a glossary, a series of factsheets, case studies and methodological advice.
One of the key components of the INNPROBIO toolbox is a database featuring biobased products that are already on the market. This database covers nine types of goods – such as food packaging, furniture and construction materials, for instance – and enables users to compare products within individual categories.
INNPROBIO also produced recommendations for decision-makers and standardisation bodies, highlighting barriers to overcome in order to stimulate public procurement of bio-based products and services. Like the other outputs of the project, which ended in February 2018, these findings will continue to resonate in the work of the partners who were involved in INNPROBIO, Westkämper notes.
‘Biobased products and services are crucial to our future, and the public sector can play a huge role in promoting them,’ he concludes. ‘It has a major pull factor.’