Procurement category: Food
Environmental and social impacts targeted: Possession of SA8000 certification or equivalent; measures to promote gender equality and women's empowerment; measures to foster parenthood, promote inclusion and value diversity, and use of products from social agriculture.
Possession of ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification or equivalent; measures to combat food waste; use of exotic products from organic foreign production, with guarantees of respect for labour and environmental rights in accordance with the principles set out in the European Charter of Fair-Trade Criteria, elaborated and approved by Fairtrade Labelling Organizations (FLO) and World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO); environmental management systems, such as in relation to: reduction of waste production; reduction in energy consumption; reduction in water consumption; reduction in the use of chemicals or use of chemicals with reduced environmental impact; use of paper materials with reduced environmental impact; and elimination of single-use or use of environmentally friendly single-use products.
Relevant EU legislation/policy/guidance: Art. 2(1) of Regulation 1305/2013 of 17 December 2013 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
Background
Intercent-ER is the Emilia-Romagna Region's Agency for the development of electronic markets. Since 2005 the Agency acts as the central purchasing body for regional public administrations, manages an eProcurement system and develops innovative approaches to public tenders. The Agency intends to pursue both environmental and social goals in its tendering procedures. In recent years, environmental, social and health protection have also acquired an increasingly important role in catering choices, intercepting the tastes and habits of increasingly demanding and informed consumers.
Procurement objectives
With this procedure, the Agency set up a system of electronic meal vouchers for the employees of the Regional Health System. Employees could use the vouchers with a network of service providers with which the supplier has agreements. For this tender, a market analysis was carried out mainly using the web, in order to get information on the companies operating and able to offer the service to be purchased. This analysis showed that various economic operators were present on this market.
While designing the procedure, the Agency took into account many aspects that have an impact on the demand for eco-friendly restaurants, such as: origin of raw materials (organic production, short chain, from social agriculture, etc.); reduction of waste production; reduction of energy and water consumption; reduction of the use of chemical products or use of chemical products with a reduced environmental impact; prevention of food waste. In relation to social criteria, the enhancement of tools to promote real gender equality between men and women and women's empowerment was considered of great importance, taking into account the negative effects that the Covid-19 pandemic caused above all on women's employment.
Tender requirements
The contract was divided in three lots on geographical basis. For each lot, a framework agreement was concluded with the tenderer with the most economically advantageous tender, determined on the basis of the best price-quality ratio. The maximum score was 30 for price and 70 for quality.
The following award criteria that include social and environmental considerations applied to the bidders:
- Possession of SA8000 certification or equivalent: 0 points (no possession) and 4 points (possession).
- Possession of ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification or equivalent: 0 points (no possession) and 4 points (possession).
- Tools to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in the team performing the contract, such as roles played by women, elimination of the equal pay gap between men and women, measures to foster parenthood, promote inclusion and value diversity (maximum 4 points).
Bidders proofing to have in place agreements with food service providers making use of one or more of the following products were assigned up to 6 points:
- Exotic products, such as pineapple, bananas, cocoa, chocolate, sugar, and coffee from organic foreign production, with guarantees of respect for labour and environmental rights in accordance with the principles set out in the European Charter of Fair Trade Criteria, elaborated and approved by Fairtrade Labelling Organizations (FLO) and World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO).
- Products from organic farming.
- Products from ‘short supply chain’ as defined in Art. 2(1) of Regulation 1305/2013 of 17 December 2013 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development.
- Products from social agriculture.
Maximum 6 additional points were given to bidders which could demonstrate to have concluded agreements with food service providers that are registered to environmental management systems, such as in relation to: reduction of waste production; reduction in energy consumption; reduction in water consumption; reduction in the use of chemicals or use of chemicals with reduced environmental impact; use of paper materials with reduced environmental impact; and elimination of single-use or use of environmentally friendly single-use products.
In addition, maximum 6 points were assigned to bidders having agreements with service providers that adopt initiatives to combat food waste. Bidders were asked to submit proposals on food waste reduction.
Results
The total tender amount was EUR 49,287,402 for the three lots. The duration of the three framework agreements was 24 months, starting from the date of its signature. The contracts issued by each Contracting Administration has a duration of five years from the date of issue and may be extended up to a maximum of six months. Three economic operators submitted a tender for each lot.
Environmental and social impacts
The winning tenderer included in the welcome kit for the employees of the Regional Health System an educational initiative to raise awareness among employees on responsible consumption and to combat food waste.
Employees were given an application to use vouchers, which also provides content on food culture, nutrition, and food waste. The providers with which the winning tenderer had agreements use products from the ‘short supply chain’ and from social agriculture. In particular, they use organic semolina pasta produced by cooperatives that are members of ‘Libera Terra’, a consortium of cooperatives whose mission is to give dignity to territories characterized by a strong mafia presence.
To reduce food waste, several actions were taken, such as: careful organization of the warehouse; online staff training on the techniques and methodologies of acceptance, storage and preservation of raw materials, and on different methods of processing, cooking, preservation and portioning of meals; preparation of menus that prevent food waste, including the provision of half portions and weightings designed with nutritionists to guarantee the correct caloric intake; the provision of doggy bags to the Health System’s staff for leftovers; and distribution of unadministered meals to Food Banks and charitable organisations.
The improvement of environmental performance and the achievement of environmental targets is supported by an integrated system of voluntary certifications: Environment - ISO 14001: environmental management system; Carbon Footprint - ISO 14064: greenhouse gas assertion; Energy efficiency - ISO 50001: energy management system; Organic Production - EC Reg 834/07: organic production standards. In its offer, the winning tenderer proposed a power quality technology project consisting of an electronic switchboard downstream of the general switchgear, which intervenes with disturbance mitigation systems on the general power supply line, which are responsible for increased consumption.
For a sustainable approach during all phases of the life cycle, an Overall Sustainability Index is calculated (from 1 to 10), based on consumption of electricity, volume of waste produced, chemical consumption and carbon footprint. Super-concentrated disinfectants are used for the sanitization of the venues, allowing a reduction in packaging and related waste (saving 92% of plastic waste) and a reduction in CO2 emissions due to transport. Premises use placemats made from recycled paper. Single use of products is limited to compostable take-away material only.
The team performing the contract can benefit from flexible working hours in and out and lunch breaks from a minimum of half an hour to two hours to facilitate the reconciliation of family and professional life; paid extraordinary leave for children's schooling, child's withdrawal from school in the event of illness, study, natural disasters and specialist visits; workers with an open-ended contract can take advantage of company leave for care of family members, care of grandchildren and psycho-social hardship; preventive oncological check-ups for women or for pregnancy.
Lessons learned
The Contracting Administrations which are part of the Regional Health System covered by the framework agreements are responsible for the monitoring of the individual Purchase Orders issued in the context of such agreements. They had to appoint one to three members to carry out inspections of the operating methods and the equipment used to perform the service, in all its phases, at any time and without prior notice. The Contracting Administrations consented to the processing and transmission to the Agency, by the Supplier, also by telephone and/or telematic means, of the data relating to invoicing, reporting and monitoring, for the purposes connected with the execution of the agreement and of the individual Purchase Orders. The Agency monitors consumption (what type of meals have been consumed) and the total expenditure, as well as the analysis of further achievable cost savings. From a portal website, the Agency and the Contracting Administrations can monitor at any time the data about the transactions and about the meals consumed by each employee. The contractor set up service satisfaction monitoring actions by means of the application, whose results are used to improve the catering service.
The Agency believes that the social and environmental considerations included in award criteria did not have any effect in restricting the participation by potential economic operators in this procedure. While monitoring mechanisms and inspections are important, user’s satisfaction and feedback are one of the most significant indicators to measure the service quality.
The most challenging aspect in the execution of these framework agreements was the fact that during Covid-19 some of the service providers had to shut down or were closed. A lesson learned for the contracting authority was to include clearer clauses to address the situations in which service providers withdraw from the agreements for various reasons, on how to replace them and the timing of such replacements.
More information
Tender documents available online.
For more information and contact details, please visit the website of the Region of Emilia-Romagna.