Section Name

GREEN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT - THE EVOLUTION OF THE

REGULATORY FRAMEWORK AND PILOT INITIATIVES IN ROMANIA

Dr. Raluca Călin1

Drd. Sorin Ștefan Decă2
Drd. Veronica Țăran-Baciu3
Dr. Carmen-Mihaela Boteanu 4
Drd. Andreea Antoneac (Lungu)5
1
Ministry of Public Works, Development and Administration - The Managing Authority for the
Administrative Capacity Operational Program, Romania,
2
Romanian Academy, National Institute of Economic Research, Romania,
3
Bucharest University of Economic Studies, The Doctoral School of Economics II, Romania,
4
Valahia University, Romania,
5
Bucharest University of Economic Studies, The Doctoral School of Economics II, Romania,

ABSTRACT
Green public procurement has become, in recent years, a more often central topic to the
attention of authorities, public and private sector. Green public procurement is a way to
achieve the global goals of sustainable development - protecting the environment,
encouraging innovation and clean technologies, inducing responsible production and
consumption. Although in Romania the development of the Green public procurement is
still in early stage (20% of the country's GDP), the law on green public procurement is
an important step towards Romania's accession to the European Union's environmental
policy. In this direction, the National Green Public Procurement Plan sets mandatory
multi-annual targets for green public procurement and the contracting authorities have
the obligation to fulfill the multi-annual targets for green public procurement.
Moreover, an important achievement is the adoption of the Green Public Procurement
Guide, developed by the Ministry of Environment and the National Agency for Public
Procurement in Romania, which includes the minimum requirements on environmental
protection for certain groups of products and services required at the level of
specifications. Regarding the promotion of the Green public procurement (GPP) Best
project, although the efforts were considerable, the Green public procurement pilot
project faced a number of challenges. The purpose of this article is to analyze the
regulatory framework, the pilot initiatives, as well the implementation of the Green
Public Procurement area in Romania. The adoption of the regulatory framework is just
one step and, for this environmental policy to be effective, sustained actions are needed
to raise awareness of the importance of the role of green public procurements.
Keywords: green public procurement, pilot project, eco-labels, National Green Public
Procurement Plan, sustainability
INTRODUCTION
Green Public Procurement (GPP) is a process by which public authorities procure
goods, services and works with a low impact on the environment during their entire life
cycle. [15]
The United Nations Organization and the European Commission have issued
recommendations and strategies that mark the key role of public authorities for
environmental protection and support for innovation in the procurement of goods,
products and services, by including green technical requirements or by applying green
assessment factors.
The RELIEF study, the largest research project on green public procurement in Europe,
conducted between 2001 and 2003 through the European Research for Environment and
Sustainable Development Program, identified benefits that could be obtained if GPP
became a widespread practice. This study shows that if all public authorities would buy
electricity from renewable sources, there would be a saving of over 61 million tonnes of
CO2 equivalent per year, or 18% of the EU's commitments under the Kyoto Protocol to
reduce CO2 emissions by 340 million tonnes. In the IT field, the large-scale purchase of
energy-efficient computers - higher than EnergyStar standards - would reduce electricity
bills and greenhouse gas emissions in Europe by almost 8 million tonnes of CO2.
Public authorities are the largest consumers in the European Union, but also the most
expensive customers. They supply about 16% of the European Union's gross domestic
product by goods and services. Romania invests in public procurement almost 20% of
the country's GDP. It is easy to understand, therefore, that the public administration has
considerable purchasing power. [4] This power can be directed towards the opting for
environmentally friendly goods and services and, therefore, can make an essential
contribution to sustainable development.
Thus, based on environmental criteria, public authorities can purchase electricity
services, transportation services, IT office equipment, food and catering and many other
goods and services that help to reduce the impact on the environment. Simply put, by
applying these environmental criteria, financial resources can be saved and the
environment can be protected at the same time.
Green procurements are relevant for both the public and private sectors. In public
procurements, the concern for the inclusion of environmental criteria in the allocation of
contracts has intensified in the last decade. For example, the Member States of the
European Union - with the exception of Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg and
Romania - had adopted by 2017 national action plans for green and sustainable
procurements. In the private sector, many companies practice green procurement as part
of their social responsibility policy. [1]
MATERIALS AND METHODS
If until recently, the lowest price was the basic principle in the field of public
procurement, today the price is important throughout the life cycle of any purchased
item. We know that any product, over time, consumes energy, water, has an emission
footprint, in short, consumes money that belongs to the taxpayers.
In 2007, researchers claimed that an important result that should be communicated by
the European Commission, as widely as possible, is that higher purchasing prices in
green procurement are in many cases compensated with lower operating costs. [13]
This material aims to take a look at the evolution of GPP in Romania, using as a method
the disclosure of the evolution of the normative framework, which provides the basis for
the implementation of sustainable procurement, as well as the financing initiatives that
put this concept into practice.
 Section Name

In 2012 Europe had a very fragmented green picture, with four top performers
(Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden), followed by a group of countries
reporting between 20% and 40% for the selected 10 product and service groups of an
European study. Twelve countries (Portugal, Ireland, Poland, the Czech Republic,
Finland, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia and Estonia) had a level
of EU GPP below 20%. [5]
The concept of ecological public procurement has gained a wide reference in Romania
in recent years. An analysis on this subject was elaborated in 2014, through the project
“5% in 5 years. Green procurement for a green economy", by Raul Cazan,
environmental specialist, for the Centre for Sustainable Policies "Ecopolis". The project
was co-financed by a grant from Switzerland through the Swiss Contribution to the
European Union.
Forcing to rise the costs of local institutions could, in many cases, provoke opposition
from citizens or create the premises for compensation claims. [4] Thus, although since
2013-2014 mandatory targets have been circulated in the public space for contracting
authorities starting from at least 10% for 2013, with an increase from year to year, the
National Green Public Procurement Plan has not yet been adopted in Romania, and
SEAP (current SICAP) – public procurement electronic system - does not have sections
dedicated to GPP monitoring.
Many of the countries that lead in GPP are those where National Action Plans (NAP)
were adopted. In Denmark the first NAP was introduced in 1994, revised in 2008. The
Netherlands has a NAP since 2003 and revised in 2007. [5]
As stated in the Country Report on the Implementation of Environmental Policies,
prepared by the European Commission's Directorate-General for the Environment, ‘EU
green public procurement policies encourage Member States to take further steps to
achieve the goal of implementing green public procurement requirements in at least
50% of public tenders’.
According to a statistic presented in 2014 by the Centre for Sustainable Policies
Ecopolis and the Terra Mileniul III Foundation, the Romanian public authorities spend,
every year, 100 billion RON for public procurement, and if 20% of this amount would
go on ecological public procurement, the profile market would be worth 20 billion
RON.
In order to guide public authorities and other categories of contracting authorities to
adopt Green Public Procurement policies, the European Commission drew up, in 2016,
the Green Public Procurement Manual.
This is after, in 2012, studies have showed that, at European level, Life Cycle Costing
(LCC) and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) methods were not frequently used by public
authorities. The most commonly used criterion is still the purchasing cost (64%),
followed by a mix of the latter and LCC or TCO (30%); and finally, by the predominant
use of LCC/TCO (6%). [5]
For the draft law on public procurement in Romania, over 120 public authorities,
companies and non-governmental organizations were consulted. Also, collaboration
protocols were concluded with 10 local and central authorities.
Within the Partnership for Sustainable Development, the NGOs involved also made a
simulation to determine what savings would be achieved if in all POSDRU projects
only recycled paper would be used, the result being 21 million euros, an amount that
could be implemented through seven projects of professional reconversion and work
integration (of a significant number of disadvantaged people).
Therefore, in line with European strategies, Romania has adopted the Law no. 69/2016
on green public procurement, which establishes the legal framework for carrying out
these types of public procurement. Green public procurement is defined by the law as
the process by which contracting authorities use environmental protection criteria to
improve the quality of services and optimize costs with public procurement in the short,
medium and long term. The purpose of this law is the following: to promote
environmental protection and sustainable development; promoting sustainable
consumption and production, as well as resource efficiency; encouraging the
development and application of clean and environmentally friendly technologies;
promoting social progress that promotes economic development [8]; ensuring the
efficient use of funds, by promoting products, services and works with minimal impact
on the environment, in the application of one of the appropriation procedures;
improving the quality of services and optimizing costs for short, medium and long-term
public procurements; development of the internal market for green products, services,
works and technologies.
The National Green Public Procurement Plan will have to include the mandatory
targets, these being expressed as a percentage that corresponds to the annual value of
green public procurement, related to the annual value of public procurement by the
contracting authority for the supply of products, services or the execution of works for
which ecological criteria have been developed by the European Commission.
Contracting authorities are also required to meet the multiannual targets for green public
procurement.
This law entered into force, however, shortly before the new package of laws on public
procurement: Law no. 98/2016, Law no. 99/2016 and Law no. 100/2016 which
transposed the European Directives no. 2014/23 / EC (concessions), no. 2014/24 / EC,
(public procurement) and no. 2014/25 / EC (sectoral procurement), the result being a
series of inconsistencies between these normative acts, which, however, need to be
resolved.
The dissemination plan on green public procurement was carried out in 2017 within the
GPPBest project - Best practices exchange and strategic tools for GPP, funded by the
LIFE program, “Governance and information” axis, and implemented in the Basilicata
Region (Italy) as responsible beneficiary coordination, in partnership with the Lazio
Region, the Sardinia Region, the Ecosystem Foundation and the Romanian Ministry of
the Environment as associated beneficiaries.
The GPPBest project took place between October 2015 and June 2018 and had as
objectives: improving the governance of public procurement policies to achieve the
objectives of sustainable development; improving GPP policy planning and
implementation skills; awareness of the environmental and economic benefits of GPP;
the transfer of good practices from the Region of Sardinia, Italy to the other project
partners; improving the skills and tools for verifying environmental criteria in the tender
 Section Name

evaluation phase; promoting public procurement processes that can have a significant
impact on the market and creating environmental benefits; GPP accounting practices.
The GPPbest project provided that the “pilot” action of ecological public procurement
in Romania had to include, during 2017, the realization of at least 3 ecological
acquisitions for at least 2 categories of products and services. Public authorities that
chose to participate in the GPP pilot project received technical support through the
project to achieve the technical specifications and standard specifications, in particular
for the six priority product and service categories in the GPP Guide (copy paper and
graphics, office IT equipment, furniture, transportation - electric and hybrid vehicles /
bicycles, cleaning products and services, food and catering services).
During 2017, three institutions took part in the GPPbest pilot project: 1) the Ministry of
Environment, 2) the National Environmental Guard and 3) the National Meteorological
Agency. Although the efforts have been considerable, the involvement of public
authorities in the GPP pilot project has faced a number of organizational, cultural and
systemic challenges.
At the European level, PricewaterhouseCoopers has published a study on statistical
information on GPP in the EU and found out that, contrary to common perception, GPP
can also lead to decreases in costs. Although the use of green criteria in procurement
can lead to higher direct purchasing costs, higher purchasing prices of green goods are
compensated by lower operating costs. To calculate the costs and to evaluate the
tenders, researchers have developed a calculation tool that combines the scores for LCC
(Life Cycle Costing) and environmental criteria results in a “best economic offer”. [7]
The objective function in the society's utility maximization problem may be expressed
as ”best environmental value for money”, max U(Q,C)= V(Q)+ B - C(Q), where V(Q) is
the procurer's valuation of the environment (e.g., Q representing a certain environmental
quality expressed as a mandatory requirement or evaluation criteria in the call for
tender), B is the procuring authority's budget, and C(Q) is the bid, or the seller's cost of
producing the product. It is assumed that C(Q) > 0, C "(Q) > 0, V'(Q) > 0, and V"(Q) <
0. [11]
Furthermore, the cost-efficiency condition should also include related costs, such as
monitoring, administration, and the resources needed to persuade producers to adjust
their process technologies to accommodate the requirements of the policy instrument in
question. Thus, the appropriate choice of environmental policy instrument, e.g. a tax or
GPP, should not always be solely based on cost-efficiency. [3]
An important achievement in Romania is the approval, in 2018, of the Green Public
Procurement Guide, which includes the minimum requirements regarding
environmental protection for certain groups of products and services that will be
requested at the level of specifications. [2] Strategic planning involves organizing
training for staff working in the field, in selecting the most advantageous contracts for
green procurement. The requirements mentioned in the guide are considered as
minimum environmental protection requirements, the contracting authority / entity
being able to use other specifications, taking into account the specificity and complexity
of green public procurement. If the contracting authority / entity uses the award criterion
the best value for money / the best value for cost in determining the most economically
advantageous tender, this criterion is determined on the basis of evaluation factors that
could include environmental issues in relation to the subject matter of the public
procurement contract / framework agreement, as set out in the guide. When elaborating
the relative weights / specific calculation algorithm, the advantages that will result from
the technical and financial proposals presented by the bidders are taken into account.
Although the order approving the Green Public Procurement Guide in Romania is
mandatory, statistics show that one year after its adoption, more than 70% of the
authorities had not yet applied it.
The percentage demonstrates that the adoption of the Order is only a step and, for this
environmental policy to be effective, sustained action is needed to raise awareness of
the importance of the role of green public procurement.
In many cases, introducing GPP seems to be a political problem, as often the public
officials think in perspective of their own term of office, meaning 4-5 years. If
somebody cares only about these next years, they may not invest money in a more
expensive device which will save the planet over the next decade. Such a way of
thinking is very hard to change. A solution could be to convince public officers that
indeed buying energy efficient devices is a proof that they are thinking long term about
their communities. [16]
From another perspective, private procurers (companies, citizens) are not restricted by
administrative requirements. It is more and more a need for companies in the
competitive sector to stand out from the crowd. Basing on this, it is worth
demonstrating environmental awareness in connection with CSR. The products and
services that meet the “green” criteria are usually top quality and represent the latest
technical trends. [7]
However, a study in Sweden shows that, in 2015, allocating public contracts in the
Swedish cleaning service sector generates little response from the suppliers. That is,
they generally do not adapt to the green criteria that the contracting authorities specify
in the call for tender and no significant environmental impact should be expected. The
inclusion of green criteria adds complexity to the suppliers' bid preparation process. [9]
The GPP-STREAM project (Green Public Procurement and Sustainability Tools for
Resource Efficiency Mainstreaming) aims to improve the Regional Operational
Program (ROP) 2014-2020, which manages European funds, on sustainable
development and support for the transition to a low-emission economy carbon. [12] The
initiators of the project consider that contracting authorities receiving funding through
the European Regional Development Fund can develop models of good practice that
could be adopted by other public bodies to promote sustainable procurement. For the
development of Green Public Procurement the following are mainly targeted: actions
aimed at improving the urban environment, revitalizing cities, regenerating and
decontaminating derelict industrial land, reducing air pollution and promoting noise
reduction measures, conservation, protection and sustainable use of cultural heritage,
diversification of local economies through the sustainable development of tourism, the
reconversion of declining industrial regions, improving the quality of life of the
population in small and medium-sized cities in Romania.
CONCLUSION
Green Public Procurement (GPP) covers areas such as the purchase of energy efficient
computers and buildings, wooden office equipment obtained in compliance with
 Section Name

environmental norms and certifications, recyclable paper, electric vehicles, clean public
transport, organic food for canteens and schools, electricity from renewable energy
sources, cooling and heating systems compliant with the most advanced environmental
protection solutions, efficient and easily recyclable electronic equipment.
In the recent years an increasing amount of papers were published about the Green
Public Procurement’s problem. This development points out that research on the field is
surpassing its incipient status. Green Public Procurement research is dominated by
Europe, and public procurement practices are still specific to each country. [14] Green
(public) procurements can positively influence the market, set a good example in terms
of saving, stimulating sustainable business, addressing a moral and ecological
behaviour. By promoting green procurement, public authorities can provide the industry
with real incentives for the development of green technologies and innovations. In some
sectors of products and services the impact can be enormous, because public purchasers
order products from a large segment that includes: the field of information technology,
energy efficient buildings, public transport, food, etc.
GPP is just one policy instrument among other instruments at disposal in practice, but
GPP is to be seen as a command-and-control environmental policy instrument, by
implementing direct controls. [10]
Raising awareness about green procurements, on the other hand, takes a long time, and
success is not certain. Thus, a gradual imposition, by law, of green public procurements
quotas is estimated to have a minimal impact on local budgets and the communities are
accommodating with an ecological conditioning of public spending.
However, we can say that in a demand-driven economy, green procurements are a major
pressure for sustainable development. The environmental care of the procuring entities
is transferred to their suppliers, but also to the suppliers of the suppliers, through a
multiplier effect that tends to spread throughout the economy.
Even if there is a prejudice of people, according to which ecological products and
services are more expensive than non-ecological ones, this opinion does not take into
account their entire life cycle. Although initially are more expensive, the long-term
benefits of purchasing organic products are not limited to the environmental impact.
They also include social and health benefits as well as economic and even political
benefits. Thus, must be underlined the importance of performance monitoring in public
sectors. [6]
Green public procurements are a necessity and opportunity of our days, representing
one of the basic pillars of sustainable development of society and the awareness of their
need involves creating a current of thought capable of transforming the mindset of the
individual, regardless of the community to which it belongs.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This paper was co-financed from the Human Capital Operational Program 2014-2020,
project number POCU/380/6/13/125245 no. 3648/23.05.2019 “Excellence in
interdisciplinary PhD and post-PhD research, career alternatives through entrepreneurial
initiative (EXCIA)”, coordinator being the Bucharest University of Economic Studies.
REFERENCES
[1] Antoneac (Călin) R., Dobrotă C.E., Corporate social responsibility and economic
and financial performance of an enterprise, Basiq International Conference, 2017, Graz,
Austria;
[2] Annex of the Order No. 1068/1652/2018 of October 4, 2018 for the approval of the
Green Public Procurement Guide, which includes the minimum requirements regarding
environmental protection for certain groups of products and services required at the
level of specifications, Romania;
[3] Brânnlund R., Lundberg S., Marklund P. O., Assessment of Green Public
Procurement as a Policy Tool: Cost-efficiency and Competition Considerations, Umea
University, Sweden;
[4] Cazan R., Achiziţii publice ecologice în România. Protecţia mediului prin cheltuieli
publice responsabile, material realizat în cadrul proiectului “5% în 5 ani. Achiziții verzi
pentru o economie verde”, Centrul pentru Politici Durabile Ecopolis, 2014;
[5] Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), College of Europe, The Uptake Of
Green Public Procurement In The Eu27. Submitted to the European Commission, DG
Environment, Brussels, 29 February 2012;
[6] Cristea M., Dobrota, C. E., Green Energy for Sustainable Development in
Romania’s Economy. Revista de Chimie, vol. 68, no. 6, 2017, Romania, Bucharest;
[7] Diofâsi O., Valko L., Green (Public) Procurement In Practice – Methods And Tools
For The Successful Implementation, Regional and Business Studies (2011) Vol 3 Suppl
2, 11-23 Kaposvâr University, Faculty of Economic Science, Kaposvâr;
[8] Dobrotă, C. E., Marcu, N., Siminică, M., & Nețoiu, L. M. (2019). Disparities, gaps
and evolution trends of innovation, as a vector. Romanian Journal of Economic
Forecasting, 22(4), 174.
[9] Lundberg S., Marklund P. O., Stromback E., Sundstrom D., Environ Econ Policy
Stud (2015), Umea University, Sweden;
[10] Lundberg S., Marklund P. O., Green public procurement as an environmental
policy instrument: cost effectiveness, Environmental Economics, Volume 4, Issue 4,
2013 Sweden;
[11] Lundberg S. and Marklund P. O., The Pivotal nature of award methods in green
public procurement. Environmental Economics, 2011, "Environmental Economics"
Journal, Sweden, businessperspectives.org;
[12] Marcu N., Dobrotă C. E., The economic impact of the cohesion policy, Revista
Economica, vol. 68, no. 3, 2016;
[13] Rudenauer I., Dross M., Eberle U., Gensch C.O., Graulich K., Hunecke K., Koch
Y., Moller M., Quack D., Seebach D., Zimmer W., Hidson M., Defranceschi P., Tepper
P., Costs and Benefits of Green Public Procurement in Europe. General
Recommendations, Oko-Institut e.V., ICLEI, Freiburg, 26 July 2007;
[14] Telgen, J., Harland, C., & Knight, L. (2012). Public procurement in perspective. In
Public procurement (pp. 44-52). Routledge;
 Section Name

[15] The communication from the European Commission to the Council and the
European Parliament on "Public Procurement for a Better Environment" (COM(2008)
400);
[16] Wozniacki L., European Environmental Bureau Guidance to Foster Green Public
Procurement, 2012;