Public Spend Forum: Air purification systems and where to find them; new sustainability program

Public Spend Forum (PSF) is a public sector procurement global community and market intelligence platform dedicated to improving public buying everywhere. GovShop is its free-to-use global government market research tool for finding and connecting with suppliers. Read more from PSF and GovShop founder Raj Sharma here: Working towards a more open and accessible public sector marketplace – for suppliers and buyers.

And take a look at this LinkedIn post from Raj to get a feel for why he cares so much about Open Government Markets.

This week’s latest from PSF:

The importance of air purification systems, what to look for and where to find them — new paper

Research now tells us that Covid-19 is more highly transmittable through airborne particles than through contaminated surfaces. So communal spaces like hospitals, schools and offices pose a high health risk to patients/staff, schoolchildren/teachers and employees/employers, reinforcing the need for better indoor air quality (IAQ) in public buildings.

Public sector bodies (and private businesses) want to comply with clean air quality recommendations, not least for the public good but for more efficient business, including reducing sick building syndrome, absenteeism and generally to maintain the right levels of ventilation and purer air in the indoor space leading to better health of the workforce. While recommendations (and sometimes legislation) are all well and good, the people who are tasked with buying airborne pollutants cleaners need to know what to look for and, frankly, where to start.

We hear repeatedly at Public Spend Forum that buyers tasked with finding specialist equipment are often stumbling at the first hurdle through lack of information about where to find the right suppliers, informed choices and importantly, resource. So PSF has produced a free-to-download paper explaining how air purification technology works and what to look for when procuring it.

Read more here.

New sustainability program for the procurement industry

Global procurement and negotiation platform and training provider, Positive Purchasing, has launched a new sustainable procurement program as part of its core strategic procurement offering. It was created in response to the overwhelming demand from the procurement industry and the growing need for sustainability as companies grapple with how to respond to the many and ever more urgent imperatives to act.

Positive CEO Jonathan O’Brien says: “It’s time for procurement teams to step up and lead because sustainable procurement is now center stage.”

The new program enables organizations to determine a sustainable procurement plan and make meaningful changes in terms of supply-side sustainability. It comprises two new training courses: Sustainable Procurement Awareness – an introductory course that provides an overview of what sustainable procurement is and why it is increasingly essential for organizations to be doing it well; Advanced Sustainable Procurement – aimed at experienced or developing procurement and supply chain practitioners as well as some key stakeholders, covering all aspects of sustainability and sustainable procurement and provides practical resources to implement sustainable procurement within an organization.

More details can be found here

And in other news … 

EU spends record €198bn on defence in 2020

The European Commission is making its software open source to benefit society

EC product passports ‘will promote circular supply chains’

HS2 uses blockchain technology to increase trust and efficiency in the supply chain

UK Gov new Procurement Review Unit announced amid ‘centralisation’ fears

Biden to expand federal fleet of EVs in bid to make government carbon-neutral by 2050

UK Cabinet Office unveils plans for ‘simpler, clearer and more flexible’ procurement rules

Prison ignores public procurement rules, citing ‘security reasons’

The World Bank Green Public Procurement: An overview of countries’ green procurement practices

Interesting and useful material:

The GovShop Small Business Resource Center (SBRC) — is a one-stop-shop containing anything a small business would need to know to navigate public procurement in the United States, and beyond.

The 7 Principles for GovMarket Growth can be downloaded for free.

Meet Jack for a free GovShop demo

If you’d like to meet Jack from the GovShop customer success team, you can book a free consultation and demo to learn how to optimize your profile and get the most out of GovShop, the free government buyer/supplier matching and shortlisting database. From claiming your supplier profile and optimizing your keywords, to standing out in a crowded market and building your sales pipeline, email Jack to help.

Contact Public Spend Forum

Contact support@publicspendforum.net if you’d like to understand more about public procurement, the effect of the pandemic, where to find suppliers for a specific category, or any other burning issue you have.

PSF would also love to hear from you if you have a success story within your organization you’d like to share. If you’d like to share your opinions or insight on a public-procurement-relevant issue please see the Guest Author Guidelines here.