Conduct market dialogues

Engaging your suppliers ahead of time

Circular public procurement aims to develop a long-term relationship with businesses, create a common language, and engage suppliers throughout the journey. City governments can engage potential suppliers early on and encourage more businesses with circular economy ambitions to register as a vendor with your municipality. As circular public procurement is a relatively new practice, the initial market engagements may take longer than other existing processes.

“Get to know the buyer” events and market dialogues are a valuable tool for both the private and public sectors to discuss challenges and opportunities. They can also allow your city government to communicate the desired outcomes, gather relevant information and clarify tender requirements.

Questions to consider:

• Are suppliers and other businesses aware of the city’s circular public procurement ambitions? Are they aware of circular economy opportunities for their businesses?

• Can you organise market dialogues or “Get to Know the Buyer” events to engage potential suppliers? + How can you encourage more businesses with circular ambitions to attend these events? Can you organise events for specific sectors or spend categories? + How can you inform more start-ups, SMEs, and businesses about upcoming tenders and provide an overview of how criteria might evolve over time?

Examples

1) When Public Health Wales (PHW) relocated its offices in 2016, they used an ‘open procedure’ to invite suppliers to propose their solutions for reusing as much existing office furniture and equipment as possible. To encourage social enterprises to participate in the procurement exercise, PHW organised an “open-day” for suppliers. Around 30 suppliers attended the event where they received detailed information about the brief and were able to ask questions. The winning consortium included social enterprises and permanent jobs were created for several people with disabilities and experiencing long-term unemployment.

2) ReLondon brought together almost 50 organisations for the first London Repair Week in October 2020. The week-long event included online discussions, repair activities for electronics and other products, and promotions from commercial repairers to raise awareness of repair.

3) The circular economy network in Buenos Aires engages the different actors across society on recycling. The participation of organisations from different sectors - companies, NGOs and Universities - is important, as each social actor is aware of the management of resources and waste, and incorporates the principles of the circular economy.

Resources

• The “convening and partnering” section of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Urban Policy Levers paper, provides an overview of how city governments have the ability to convene, facilitate, and spur collaboration between public, private, and civic leaders.

• The Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) Regions report on Market engagement provides examples of best practices on how to engage suppliers.

• ICLEI has developed a step-by-step guide on how to engage the market in public procurement processes.