CSCP Team Supports Green Public Procurement in the Land of Happiness

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In recent months, CSCP conducted several multi-day workshops for public servants and SME representatives in Bhutan. Project Manager Jan Bethge was given the opportunity to discuss Green Public Procurement (GPP) on TV.

During recent months, CSCP has conducted three multi-day workshops for public servants and representatives from small and medium sized Bhutanese enterprises (SMEs) on Green Public Procurement under the Switch Asia GPPB Project. In addition to the trainings, the project partners conducted a one-day training for suppliers from the construction sector aiming at sharpening their understanding of how they can respond to their government’s greener demands in future.

Project activities aimed to support the implementation of Green Public Procurement across government procurement cycles as a driver for green growth. GPP is an important leverage for introducing more sustainable products, services, and infrastructure and enables greener and socially responsible businesses and consumption in Bhutan. More than 20 per cent of the country’s GDP is spent in the public sector and the government is willing and highly committed to switching from conventional to green, tapping benefits and positive multipliers for Bhutan and its development.

CSCP imparted knowledge on the concept of lifecycle thinking and applying it into procurement decisions. Among others, procurers were introduced to the concept of hotspots assessment as a tool to identify environmental and social risks and opportunities in the lifecycle of selected products, services, and infrastructures.

All trainings included interactive and creative methods for participants to learn by practice. Fruitful discussions underlined the high motivation of the participants. The joint analysis of business cases showed potentials for greener procurement in Bhutan in areas such as catering services, construction materials, energy services, IT office equipment, mobile phones, office furniture, outdoor lighting, road construction, stationary, and vehicles. The trainings were enriched by the visit of active production sites, increasing practical insights and exposure to the public servants and company representatives.

The Bhutanese TV station BBS invited all project partners for two panel talks. CSCP’s Project Manager Jan Bethge joined the partners’ representatives in taking the opportunity to explain the importance and benefits of GPP for Bhutan to the public, helping to raise overall awareness crucial for the sustainable implementation of GPP.

In the coming months, findings will be used to initiate pilot tenders and support Bhutanese SMEs to foster greener production and consumption in Bhutan for the benefit of local production. Finally, the knowledge acquired will be built into the curriculum of training institutions in order to systematically achieve the full implementation of Green Public Procurement and its benefits.