Santa Catarina is one of three Brazilian states selected by the Sustainable Public Procurement (CP+) project to receive an Action Plan aimed at incorporating environmental, social and economic criteria into public procurement and contracting.
The Action Plan was presented on September 21 and 22 in Brasília. In addition to Santa Catarina, the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Amapá were selected from seven states that reached the final stage of the selection process.
CP+ is an initiative of EcoAdvance, a project of the International Climate Initiative (IKI), implemented by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability in partnership with GIZ Brazil. The initiative supports Brazilian state governments in developing and applying policies and instruments to make public procurement more sustainable. EcoAdvance promotes more sustainable consumption and production patterns, contributing to climate action and the protection of biodiversity and natural resources.
In Santa Catarina, participation in the initiative was coordinated by the Compras SC Programme, under the Directorate of Procurement and Contract Management (DGLC) of the State Secretariat for Administration. The programme brings together around 40 government bodies and entities and works to integrate and centralise public procurement across the state.
The new Action Plan is expected to guide the next steps in Santa Catarina’s sustainable public procurement policy, including the adoption of environmental, social and economic criteria from the early stages of procurement planning.
For Francieli Alves Correa Marquardt, Director of the DGLC, the initiative represents an opportunity to use public procurement as a tool for sustainability and to influence the market. “If the state is a large-scale buyer, it also needs to set an example of how to buy better,” she said.
The work supported by CP+ complements other initiatives in Santa Catarina, including the development of the State Sustainable Public Procurement Policy, with support from PROFISCO II, and the SC ELAS project, which seeks to use public procurement as a tool for social inclusion.
By supporting the adoption of sustainability criteria in public procurement, CP+ addresses an important mechanism for transforming consumption and production patterns. According to GIZ, public procurement accounts for an average of 15% to 20% of national budgets and can help stimulate the supply of more sustainable products and services.
