Transcript Food Sourcing and Sustainable Procurement: The Roman Model

Creative Public Procurement:
Lessons from Italy and the
UK
Dr. Roberta Sonnino
School of City and Regional Planning
Cardiff University
The Potential of Public
Procurement
 Public procurement holds significant
development potential:

Enormous market in the EU, where it
represents ca. 16% of the total GDP (€ 1,500
billion in 2002)
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In the UK, the public sector spends some £ 150
billion/year, or around 13% of its GDP
Significant opportunity to promote socially and
environmentally friendly products and services
– concept of sustainable procurement
Sustainable public procurement
Bringing together the business and the policy arms of
government is what sustainable procurement is about. It is
about how the government’ s immense buying power can be
used to make rapid progress towards its own goals on
sustainable development. […] Sustainable procurement – in
short using procurement to support wider social, economic and
environmental objectives in ways that offer real long-term
benefits, is how the public sector should be spending taxpayers
money (Neville Simms, UK Sustainable Procurement Task
Force, 2006)
Sustainable public procurement in
the EU: the background
 In the 1990s, public procurement in the EU was
subordinated to the philosophy of free trade and the
single market

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4 directives aimed to provide an effective competitive
market for public contracts that delivered best value
for public money
No consideration for environmental and social costs of
products and services offered
Sustainable public procurement in
the EU: the background
 Principles of free trade and the single market began
to be openly questioned after the Treaty of the
European Union (1997)

Article 6 requires the integration of environmental and
social objectives into all EU’s policies to promote
sustainable development
 Helsinki case C-513/1999: the European Court of
Justice agreed that contracting authorities can take
into consideration the “production methods” of the
bidder
Sustainable Public Procurement in
the EU
 Legislation reformed in 2004

Two new directives

Article 26 of the Public Sector Directive
establishes that:
Contracting authorities may lay down special
conditions relating to the performance of a
contract…The conditions governing the
performance of a contract may, in particular,
concern social and environmental considerations
Sustainable Public Procurement in
the EU

I think that one of the key concerns for us […] is this big
argument about the fact that […] most of the plus points, the
gains that we got in the European directives are in the
recitals, and the UK government has a strict policy of
transposing the articles only into the regulations […] Member
states in their implementation have an obligation to provide
as much information to public authorities who are the targets
of the legislation[…] You can’t do that effectively without
making reference to the recitals. […] We felt that, in the UK
context, knowing that the local authorities exercise caution,
these directives, as the Commission itself said, would extend
the scope for the environment and social, they said they
were there to clarify, and we think that the recitals are crucial
to the clarification, and as such the regulations should be
informing about the spirit of that clarification. […] We are
disappointed at the national level…for us a lot of the spirit of
the Directives, that we worked very hard to change, is not
there…KATHLEEN WALKER-SHAW, BRITISH GENERAL
UNION
Sustainable Public Procurement: the
Potential of School Meals
 A sustainable school meal system is one that:
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reduces diet-related health problems
promotes sustainable patterns of consumption
creates new markets for local producers
provides environmental benefits
Sustainable Public Procurement and its
Barriers: the Case of the UK
 Progressive deterioration of the school meal service
since the 1980s
 Abolition of nutritional standards
 Compulsory Competitive Tendering (CCT) as a
market-driven regulatory regime that spawned a
cost-cutting culture (Morgan and Sonnino, 2008)
 Lower quality school food
 Loss of kitchen infrastructure in schools
 Reduction in the numbers and skill levels of
catering staff
Sustainable Public Procurement and
its Barriers: the Case of the UK
 The UK system is obsessed with cost-effectiveness
and “value for money”
 Gershon Review of the public sector (1999) called for
reform to secure better value for money and said we
should not accept a “green premium” while greening
public procurement

Lots of sensible choices that could be made by
procurement managers are ruled out by a
spurious perception of efficiency (B. Tuxworth,
Forum for the Future, June 2006)
The School Food Revolution: Hungry
for Success in Scotland (2002)
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New vision for school meals:
 Promoting the “whole school approach”
 Raising the quality and nutritional standards of the meals
 Re-imagining school meals as an educational and health
service
Significant financial investment: £ 63.5 million for the years
2003-2006
The School Food Revolution in
East Ayrshire

Deprived rural county of
120,000
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Far-sighted council working
in the spirit of ‘joined-up
thinking’

Goal of “environmental
stewardship, connecting
children with food and with
where the food comes
from” (R. Gourlay, Head of
Catering)
Re-localizing the Food Chain in
East Ayrshire
 Pilot project at Hurlford primary (2004),
extended to the other 10 primary in 2005
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Radically new menus
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Health benefits of the Mediterranean diet
Fat, sugar and salt were reduced
Added colorings, artificial flavorings and GM-foods were
banned
Fresh and unprocessed ingredients were prioritized
Local suppliers actively involved

Establishment of relationships between producers and
the Council
Re-localizing the Food Chain in East
Ayrshire

Strict “straightness” guidelines
for class 1 vegetables made
more flexible to attract organic
suppliers
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Products broken into 9 lots to
attract local producers
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Four innovative “quality” award
criteria
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Ability to supply to deadlines
Quality and range of
foodstuffs
Food handling arrangements
and facilities
Use of resources
Re-localizing the Food Chain:
Procurement Mechanisms
 13 Expressions of Interest and 10 bids received
 “Lack of understanding of the full process on the part of
some producers” (Bowden et al., 2006)
 Contracts awarded to 2 local wholesalers and 5 local
producers
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50% of the ingredients utilized are organic
70% are locally sourced
90% of the food served is unprocessed
 Costs of a two-course meal: £ 2.10 (ca. €3)

10 p difference between buying off national contracts and
buying locally
Re-localizing the Food Chain: The
Impacts of Re-localization
 Environmentally:
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Food miles reduced by
70%
Less packaging waste
Organic and local
sourcing have helped
the Council to save
almost £ 100,000 in
environmental costs
 Economically
 Multiplier effect of £
160,000/12 schools on
local economy
Food Miles
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Bef or e
Af ter
Re-localizing the Food Chain: The
Impacts of Re-localization
 Culturally:
 Improving children’s eating habits and knowledge
 Breaking down misconceptions on the scope for
procuring local food
 Socially:
 Increased users’ satisfaction
 67% of children think that school meals taste better
 77% of parents believe that the scheme is a good use
of the Council’s money
 Social Return on Investment Index of 6.19
Sustainable Public Procurement and
its Potential: Examples from Europe
 Even before the reform, some European countries
have found room for manoeuvring within the old
directives:
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Finland: Pori and the “acceptance of variants” method
Sweden: Malmoe and the development of energyfriendly transport technologies
Italy: sustainable food procurement
Sustainable Food Procurement: the
Italian Model
 Sustainable food procurement has a quite long history in
Italy
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The “Guidelines for a Healthy Italian Diet” (1986),
published by the National Institute for Nutrition, explicitly
promoted the Mediterranean food model in public catering
Finance Law 488 (1999):
To guarantee the promotion of organic agricultural
production of ‘quality’ food products, public institutions
that operate school and hospital canteens will provide in
the daily diet the use of organic, typical and traditional
products as well as those from denominated areas, taking
into account the guidelines and other recommendations
of the National Institute of Nutrition
Sustainable Food Procurement: the
Italian School Meal System
 Significant development of green and local food procurement
in the Italian schools. In 2003:
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68% of Italian schools made at least some use of
organic ingredients
561 organic school canteens
 In contrast with the UK, a multifunctional view of school
meals supports sustainable procurement in 3 ways:
1.Contracting authorities retain complete control
over the service
2.Possibility of discriminating in favour of local
operators
3.Wide interpretation of “best value”
School Meals in Rome: The Numbers
 140,000 meals supplied every
day
 92% of the meals cooked in the
schools
 Service entrusted to 6 catering
companies but strictly
monitored by the centre:
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3,500 inspections by
dieticians/year
1,100 inspections performed by
a specialized firm in 2005
Involvement of Local Health
Authorities
Canteen Commissions
Sustainable School Meals in Rome:
The Process

Rome began its “quality revolution” in 2001
 Contracts awarded on the basis of the
“economically most advantageous tender”
 Incremental procurement approach
 identification of a few basic quality criteria
 development of innovative award criteria
Sustainable School Meals in Rome:
The Process

2002-2004 tender: 100-point award
system
 Price of the meal (51 points)
 Organizational characteristics of the service
(30 points)
 Projects, interventions and services offered to
improve the eating environment and promote
food education (15 points)
 Additional organic, PDO and PGI products
offered (4 points)
Sustainable School Meals in Rome:
The Process

In the 2004-2007 tender, Rome increased the
number of both basic quality criteria and award
criteria
 New requirements to prevent childhood obesity
 Renewed emphasis on seasonality, variety, tradition
and nutritional health
 Increased number of organic products
2004-2007 AWARD CRITERIA
Points
A
Price
51
B
Improving and restoring canteens, kitchens and
furniture
17
C
PDO and PGI products (meat and cured meats)
offered in addition to those required by the
tender
9
D
Organization of training courses and
informational campaigns
8
E
Organizational features of the service
4
F
Use exclusively of products from "bio-dedicated“ 4
food chains
G
Organic products offered in addition to those
required by the tender
4
H
Fair Trade products
2
Sustainable School Meals in Rome:
The Costs
 Costs of a meal: € 4,11 (£ 2.83)
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Ingredients: € 1.9 (£ 1.31) -- 47% of the total
Other direct costs: € 2 (£ 1.38) -- 50% of the total
Profit for caterers: € 0.13 cents/meal – 9 p/meal (3,2% of
the total)
 Families pay on the basis of their income:
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5 meals/week: € 41.32 (£ 28)/month
25% discount for low-income families
Service free for poor families
 Costs of the school meal service in Rome: almost € 110 million
(£ 76 million)/year
 The city invested € 166 million (£ 114 million) for the years
2004-2007
Case Study 1: The School Food
Revolution in Rome
 2007-2012 tender
 School meals and social inclusion
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Unutilized foods and leftovers to charity associations and animal
shelters
Incentives to source products from social cooperatives
School meals and environmental sustainability
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Recycling, low-impact detergents, bio-degradable plates
“Guaranteed freshness”
Case Study 1: The School Food
Revolution in Rome
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Today:
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67.5% of the food is
organic
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44% of the food comes
from ‘bio-dedicated’ food
chains
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26% of the food is local
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14% of the food is Fair
Trade
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2% of the food comes
from social cooperatives
Is Rome acting legally?
 EU regulations support sustainable procurement

If it is set out in a non-discriminatory way, there’s no doubt
whatsoever that you can use as your technical specification that
all foodstuff must be organic, full stop. […] It is legitimate to say
“we want foodstuff that is not older than”, it’s a legitimate
idea…If that means in practice that it will have to be locallygrown, so be it! It remains a legitimate criterion, but it is not a
legitimate criterion if you say that it has to be produced within 10
kilometres from the school. Interview at DG INTERNAL
MARKET
The School Food Challenge: Some
Lessons
 Rethinking school meals as a health and well
being service

Public meals as part of a wider strategy for sustainability
integrating production, consumption, health and education
 Investing resources
 Involving all actors in the food chain
 Disseminating good practice from one area to
another
 Long-term vision