Engaging with the market to procure socially responsible ICT in Stockholm
Engaging with the market to procure socially responsible ICT in Stockholm

Engaging with the market to procure socially responsible ICT in Stockholm

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The Region of Stockholm in Sweden applies environmental requirements for ICT procurement since 2010, and addressing social criteria in contract conditions since 2014. Between 2018 and 2019 they ran a total of eight ICT procurements, for which they carried out extensive market engagement activities. The aim was to develop the tenders in a way that challenged the suppliers whilst also considering their ability to respond to the social criteria. The sustainability criteria made up around 30% of the award points (15% environmental and 15% social). Monitoring activities were carried out both through desktop audits, and factory audits in limited occasions. The Region is affiliated with Electronics Watch, who provide them with monitoring support. Among the different lessons learnt from these tenders, the Region highlighted the importance of having binding contractual requirements. However, the market engagement activities showed that mandatory requirements should only be set if they can be met by around 50% of the suppliers. For this it is important to establish a regular open dialogue with suppliers, both and after the procurement.