EU GPP Helpdesk Webinar on “Mainstreaming a profession: The Professionalisation of public procurement”

The first European Commission’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) Helpdesk webinar of 2024 focused on the professionalisation of public procurement. To have good public procurement processes and support green, circular and social policies, public buyers must have the relevant knowledge, competencies and expertise. In October 2017, the European Commission adopted a 'recommendation on the professionalisation of public procurement' to encourage EU countries to take steps to support the career development of contracting authorities. These recommendations highlighted the need for training and career management of public procurement practitioners, as well as providing tools to make the procurement process more efficient (e.g. e-procurement tools, guidelines, templates). 

The webinar, which took place on 7 March 2024, explored the training programmes, professional development support and tools that exist at national and EU level to assist public purchasers. By examining the lessons learned from these programmes and projects, the webinar has highlighted what more can be done to embed the public procurement profession. It also presented how formalising the work of public purchasers can contribute to making public spending more efficient. 

The webinar first presented initiatives and projects at EU level that support public purchasers. This was followed by speakers presenting examples of good practices and lessons learned in several countries, such as Malta, Estonia and Portugal, showing the tangible benefits of these efforts.

The webinar featured the following presentations:

• Welcome and Introduction from the EU GPP Helpdesk: Ivan Azevedo, Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
• European initiatives and projects to support public procurement professionals: Marta Toporek, Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (GROW), European Commission
• Lessons learned from Technical Support Instrument (TSI) projects on professionalisation of public procurement personnel – fostering strategic methodologies, integrity and transparency: Johannes Boermann, Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support, European Commission 
• Professionalising the public procurement workforce and strengthening the public procurement system in Malta: Lorraine Mangion Duca, Director, the Department of Contracts (DOC) within the Ministry of Finance and Employment
• PNRR ACADEMY: Italian Procurement Training: Giuseppina Galluzzo, Consip & Laura Chiodini, IFEL
• GPP training in Estonia: Sandra Oisalu, board member, environmental expert, Baltic Environmental Forum
• GPP training in Portugal: Paula Trindade, Senior Researcher, LNEG

In addition, a slido was used to see what can be done to support professionalisation in public procurement, as well as to ask participants what they think are the competences and skills that public procurers need. 

The webinar was moderated by Helena O'Rouke-Potocki, ICLEI Europe, on behalf of the DG ENV, European Commission.

The presentations given and the recording can be found in Circabc