Harnessing Public Procurement for the Green Transition

Costa Rica

Framework, scope, action-plans

In 2015, the country adopted the National Policy of Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) and set up the basis for the creation of the National Steering Committee of Sustainable Procurement. The National Policy on SPP aims at promoting the strategic use of public procurement to support the production and consumption of goods and services that are innovative and provide the best economic, social, and environmental performance.

In Costa Rica, the Public Procurement Authority (ACP) is responsible for overseeing and directing the public procurement system, while the Public Procurement Directorate (DCoP), as its subsidiary, is tasked with implementing the actions and decisions made by the ACP. Moreover, the Ministry of Finance is responsible for developing an overarching strategy for the implementation and monitoring of the National Policy on SPP, working in co-ordination with the other ministries in charge of the social, environmental, and economic portfolios. To date, this overarching strategy has not yet been developed, although the annual action plan was prepared, and it is in force since 2018.

Implementation

To support the uptake of GPP, the Public Procurement Directorate (Dirección de Contratación Pública or DCoP- in Spanish) has developed different tools, such as the Technical Regulation for the application of sustainable criteria in Public Procurement, and the Guideline for its implementation1, the Guide to social criteria in Costa Rican public procurement processes2, a practical Guideline for sustainable procurement in the public sector, and a sustainable criteria evaluation Matrix. In addition to that, both the DCoP and the Strategic Public Procurement Committee provide training and capacity-building activities. A help desk service for the use of sustainable criteria is also available.

Measurement and impact

While contracting authorities are bound to use the e-procurement system SICOP to conduct procurement procedures as well as to report on their purchases and procurement plans, there is no mandatory obligations to report specifically on green public purchases. Moreover, Costa Rica has not yet developed a standardised methodological approach to evaluate the impacts of GPP. Nevertheless, the evaluation and monitoring of public policy (Article 46 RLGCP) does provide that the evaluation phase is transversal to the entire process of formulating the National Public Procurement Plan in terms of strategic public procurement, so that it will apply to both the design phase, as well as the implementation and management of the National Plan and its Action Plan. The evaluation should use criteria of relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability.

In the context of waste management, the Report on Procurement with sustainability criteria of SICOP User Institutions for the Year 20223, concludes that in the area of strategic public procurement reveals challenges in understanding what relevant sustainability criteria could be. Indeed, under a closer examination of the procurement process, it becomes clear that these criteria do not align with the nature of goods and services being bought.

Through the document "Improvements in the Integrated Public Procurement System (SICOP). Section for suppliers to incorporate information on the inclusion of sustainable criteria (environmental, economic, social, innovation) in the terms of public procurement..." (2021), the improvements to the system were communicated to user institutions. These enhancements enabled the identification of sustainable criteria promoted in public procurement processes.

Recent developments

Article 21 of Section IV of the General Public Procurement Law, 9986 includes a legal obligation for all contracting authorities to integrate sustainability criteria - including environmental criteria – in the tender specifications for the contractual activity promoted with public funds (as specified in art. 20, third paragraph of LGCP). Moreover, in Title I, Chapter IV “Strategic Public Procurement” (Section I and II), as well as in Title II, Chapter VIII, Article 84 – also known as the “Framework Agreement”, there is a provision that mandates the use of criteria for strategic public procurement. These criteria are directly linked to the contractual object, as determined through market studies. Similarly, within the Regulation to the General Public Procurement Law (Executive Decree, 43808), in Title I, Chapter IV “Strategic Public Procurement” (Sections I, II and III), as well as in Title III, Chapter VIII, Article 232 “Framework Agreements”, the promotion of incorporating environmental criteria into Strategic Public Procurement is emphasised.

With the enactment of the new General Public Procurement Law4 (LGCP) and its regulation (RLGCP) in December 2022, a National Public Procurement Plan has been established. This Plan holds the status of public policy within the strategic procurement domain. In the context of environmental considerations, the recent legislation establishes environmental protection as a national goal. This is to be achieved through the promotion of life cycle approaches to goods, services and works, the use of renewable energies, product certificates and eco-labels. However, it is important to note that both the policy and its action plan still require approval approved.

Furthermore, in 2023, the Public Procurement Directorate instructed Institutional Procurement Managers and Public Institutions in general to include the percentage in the methodology for evaluating the terms of reference. They were also directed to incorporate strategic public procurement criteria into SICOP. This involves including environmental, social, economic, innovative, and geographic proximity criteria available in the SICOP electronic form to ensure the proper identification of information usage5.

The DCoP is now working to update the National Policy on SPP and to align it with the new provisions envisaged in the LGCP. Moreover, in 2022 a new Guideline for sustainable public procurement was published and it contains a set of SPP criteria for 11 different categories, which contracting authorities can use as reference.

The Regulation to the General Public Procurement Law establishes that, until new provisions aligned with the General Public Procurement Law regarding strategic public procurement are in place, public institutions will continue to adhere to the Technical Regulation for the application of sustainable criteria in Public Procurement, and the Guideline for its implementation. This includes guidelines, manuals, technical sheets and other instruments issued about sustainable public procurement and the Law on Integrated Waste Management

Some new Guidance documents are currently under development:

• The Strategic Public Procurement Guide, in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation Agency (The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GIZ in German), is expected to be published in 2024.

• The Guide on Environmental Criteria for Strategic Public Procurement, expected to be published in 2024 in conjunction with the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica and with the collaboration of GIZ.

• The Innovation Criteria Guide is currently in the organisation process, in collaboration with GIZ and the Costa Rican Innovation and Research Promoter. It is expected to be published in 2024.

Moreover, there is an ongoing professional development management through webinars, available on the Public Procurement Directorate's website: https://www.hacienda.go.cr/LeyGeneralContratacionPublica.html