Criteria analysis of green public procurement in the Spanish furniture sector

Abstract

Green Public Procurement (GPP) constitutes a potential policy instrument to reduce the environmental impact of products, services and works, and to create environmental value for society. Further requirements had to be recently incorporated into tenders to boost sustainability in the production and consumption market to favour circular economy. The awarding process used by public institutions while tenders are being evaluated becomes especially relevant in the performance of the final purchased product or service. This paper describes an in-depth analysis performed on the GPP criteria for furniture, which is identified as one of the priority sectors for circular economy. Forty-three tenders from the Spanish furniture sector were content-analysed and the criteria included in them were identified and clustered. The results showed how environmental, technical, social and other considerations are being included in tenders and which weight is granted to them during the awarding process. The results reveal that, although environmental criteria are being progressively introduced, these are still tentatively present (average weight of 6.02%) and the economic aspect is still the most decisive one (73.14%), followed by the technical (18.67%). A high potential was found in the furniture sector regarding innovation, ecolabel integration, public staff training and policy development towards enhancing the market’s circularity.