Green procurement at the UAB

Public procurement is a powerful economic tool of the administration. In Catalonia it represents more than 30% of total public spending and 14% of the European Union's GDP. This means that public procurement is no longer a mere purchase of goods and services for the administrations, but has become a tool for the promotion of certain public policies.

The basic rule regarding public procurement is Law 9/2017, of 8 November, on public sector contracts, which transposes into Spanish law the European Parliament and Council Directives 2014/23/EU and 2014/24/EU. In 2019, the Green Public Procurement Plan for the General State Administration, its autonomous bodies and Social Security management entities was approved (published in the Official State Gazette of 4 February 2019).

In Catalonia, by Agreement 171/2022 of 30 August, the Catalan Strategy for the Improvement of Public Procurement was approved. The general objective of this plan is to provide the Catalan public sector with a procurement system that guarantees the provision of quality services and improves the management of public contracts, considering efficiency, a responsible vision of needs, coherence between different public policies, the principles of transparency and integrity and the aim of obtaining better value for money. Furthermore, due to the economic importance of public procurement, this Strategy aims to contribute to tackling many of the main challenges facing Catalonia and Europe, especially the achievement of sustainable growth, stimulation and innovation.

This year the Sustainability Office has launched a service to promote improvements in the UAB Public Procurement Plans from the perspective of incorporating environmental and sustainability criteria in all purchases and contracts made by the university.

Along these lines, both the European Union and the governments of Spain and the Generalitat de Catalunya incorporate considerations of this nature in their respective public procurement strategies.

During these months, work has been carried out on the greening of the UAB's public procurement more directly related to the Directorate of Architecture and Logistics, to move towards sustainable development, in accordance with the recommendations of the European Union.