Handbook for tHe Inter-amerIcan network on Government Procurement
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exAMPLeS Of brAzILIAn eCO-LAbeLS
associação brasileira de Normas Técnicas
http:www.abnt.org.br
• The ABNT Eco-label certiies products based on their lifecycle environmental performance.
• The label is granted by the Brazilian Organisation of technical Standards
SustentaX
http:www.selosusten tax.com.brselos.php
the SustentaX label is based on the ISo 14024 and certiies that products, materials, equipment and services:
• are sustainably provided; • comply with quality and safety standards;
• are provided by socially and environmentally responsible suppliers.
3.5 Evaluating tenders and awarding contracts
the evaluation and award stage in- volves examining the bids proposed
by the short-listed suppliers and selecting the one that ofers the best
value-for-money across the product or service lifecycle.
In many countries, tenders are evaluated and awarded based on the
lowest price at the time of purchase. when implementing SPP however,
tenders should be evaluated based on the most economically advanta-
geous tender meat.
the meat principle allows for these considerations of costs other
than purchase price. It provides more scope for the inclusion of
environmental and social criteria:
• MEAT considers the full life- cycle of a product or service.
this includes the full cost of acquisition including the raw
materials, costs of operation, maintenance and management,
and the waste and disposal costs;
• MEAT allows procurers to con- sider qualitative factors if they
can be assessed transparently. Many jurisdictions use scorecards
and matrixes’ to determine the best value-for-money amongst the
shortlisted bids. when implement- ing SPP, it is important to allocate
a suiciently signiicant score to environmental and social perfor-
mance, to signal to the market the demand for sustainable goods and
services is sincere and long-term. only then will environmental and
social performance become main- stream business priorities. Indeed,
only then will suppliers understand that they will not win tenders unless
they pay due regard to environ- mental and social attributes of their
products and production processes. during the early implementation of
SPP, lower scores can be awarded to sustainability performance. In
time, as environmental and social performance moves into ‘additional’
criteria and subsequently, into the ‘mandatory’ criteria of technical
speciications, the value of the scores can increase in tandem.
Example: Award criteria for the procurement of printers
TENdER A TENdER B
financial criterion: lowest purchasing price 50 points
uSd 10,000 50 points
uSd 13,000 35 points
financial criterion: operating cost 10 points
4 points 8 points
environmental criterion: energy eiciency 20 points
10 points 20 points
environmental criterion: use of recycled paper 10 points
5 points 10 points
Social criterion: 5 of employees are from vulnerable groups 10 points
0 points 10 points
Total 69 points
83 points
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Handbook for tHe Inter-amerIcan network on Government Procurement
the example on the previous page illustrates how sustainability criteria
can be used to evaluate a tender for the procurement of oice printers.
the highest score possible is 100 points.
In this sample tender evaluation, the inancial, environmental and social
criteria are given diferent evaluation weightings, based on their relative
importance for the procuring au- thority. note that price only counts
for 50 per cent in the evaluation, so a more costly product that scores
better on the social and environmen- tal criteria can still win. this simple
example shows how sustainability can be integrated into the award
criteria, and how it is a relatively straightforward approach that can
be attempted even before writing environmental and social technical
speciications.
3.6 Contract conditions winning bidders enter into service,
