Lively cooperation in the Nordic countries and the EU
In August 2024, Hansel’s Board of Directors held a meeting in Copenhagen and visited the Danish central purchasing body SKI. Signe Lynggaard Madsen, the CEO of SKI, presented the company with the rest of the Executive Committee. There was active discussion, and it was concluded that the companies’ joint procurement offering and procedures were very similar. Both SKI and Hansel offer their services to all the general government organisations. Both companies also have joint procurement procedures that are compulsory for some of their customers. In SKI, this mainly applies to municipalities, whereas in Hansel, the “obligation to use” applies to government customers. The Kingdom of Denmark owns 55% of SKI, and Local Government Denmark 45%, while Hansel’s owners are the Republic of Finland and the Association of Finnish Cities and Municipalities.
The purpose of both central purchasing bodies is to generate savings for society and provide sustainable procurement solutions for their customers. Both companies offer both framework agreements and dynamic purchasing systems, but SKI focuses mainly on framework agreements. The companies receive their income mainly from service fees for joint procurement. SKI’s approach to savings calculations attracted the interest of Hansel’s Board of Directors and, encouraged by the Board, this calculation model will be applied to Hansel. SKI uses its savings calculations to determine the added value it generates for society.
Productive exchange of experience from many perspectives
Some Hansel employees attended the Nordic Network Meeting on corporate social responsibility in Oslo in June 2024. Topics covered included measures related to procurement from “high-risk countries” and corporate social responsibility audits.
In June, Hansel was also represented at the Power of Public Food Procurement event in Copenhagen, where the emphasis was on school meals.
Nordic cooperation in the field of ICT is also regular and very active. Monthly remote meetings have been arranged, and in June 2024, there was a meeting in Norway during an event arranged by DFO. The work has focused on software and cloud service procurement challenges, and the exchange of experience. In addition to Hansel, participants have included Adda from Sweden, SKI from Denmark, DFO from Norway and Ríkiskaup from Iceland. The large group of specialists has shared their tendering experience and views regarding the operating methods and procedures used by software suppliers. One of the objectives is to achieve greater efficiency, savings and benefits from centralised procurement in the sector.
In September 2024, the first Nordic Travel Network meeting was held in Stockholm. In addition to Hansel, the participants included the organiser, Kammarkollegiet from Sweden, SKI from Denmark and DFO from Norway. During the meeting, the category strategies of the different countries, the manner in which sustainability requirements in tendering are taken into account, and the systems and technical solutions used were discussed. The status of ongoing tendering projects in the different countries was also presented.
Nordic cooperation on the renewal of the Public Procurement Directive was launched in the autumn of 2024. The central purchasing bodies Adda from Sweden, SKI from Denmark and Hansel started discussions regarding lobbying and raising practical procurement perspectives.
In November 2024, Hansel was well represented at some international procurement sector events. A representative of Hansel participated in a workshop organised in Tirana by the European Union Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (TAIEX) programme for the Albanian central purchasing body Operatori i Blerjeve të Përqendruara. The workshop’s goal was to share best practices in joint procurement with Albanian colleagues, and our representative presented our experiences in using dynamic procurement systems as a model for joint procurement. Meanwhile, a representative of Hansel gave a presentation on what makes a central purchasing body a game changer at the Nordic Public Procurement Forum in Copenhagen. The seminar also covered the benefits of joint procurement, news from the European Commission, current legal practice, theses on procurement and the sustainability of procurement.
The active cooperation between Adda, the Swedish central purchasing body for municipalities, and Hansel on preparedness culminated in a meeting in Stocking in December 2024. The central purchasing bodies have discussed the Finnish and Swedish preparedness practices, how sustainability and preparedness requirements are taken into account in tendering, and technical solutions. The state of preparedness in both countries was also covered. The meeting attendees also included representatives of the Finnish and Swedish authorities and Swedish municipalities.
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