New GPRA to integrate sustainable, green practices in gov’t procurement

The new Government Procurement Reform Act (GPRA) will soon integrate sustainable and green public procurement practices aimed at minimizing negative environmental impacts, promoting social responsibility, and supporting long-term economic sustainability.

The bill, which has been passed in the House of Representatives on third and final reading, shall establish sustainable and green public procurement as one of the notable amendments to the decades-old Republic Act No. 9184.

This is also in line with the administration of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s thrust to promote climate resiliency and green economy as building blocks of progressive, livable, and sustainable communities.

“Because sustainability is one of my advocacies and a commitment of this Administration, we will adopt a Green Public Procurement Strategy to procure goods, infrastructure projects, and consulting services with reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle. We will also integrate green practices and environmentally relevant criteria in the procurement design of a project,” DBM Secretary Mina F. Pangandaman said.

Green Public Procurement is a process whereby public authorities seek to procure goods, services, and works with a reduced environmental impact throughout their life cycle.

This strategy has been provided in the proposed measure, which states that government procurement “shall integrate green practices, as well as environmentally relevant criteria or requirements, in the design of their procurement projects in order to achieve broader policy objectives on energy, water, and material efficiency, waste reduction, pollution and emission prevention, climate change mitigation, local and rural development, greening supply chains, greening infrastructure and work, industry productivity, innovation and competitiveness, inclusive business models, green jobs, and circular economy.”

Meanwhile, Sustainable Public Procurement “shall be used by procuring entities in goods, infrastructure, and consulting services to achieve value for money on a whole life basis not only to meet their specific needs but for the benefit of the society and the economy, while reducing adverse environmental impact.”

The new GPRA also seeks to develop a Green Local Market to attract green investments and improve the competition in government procurement.

Moreover, towards the promotion of certified sustainable products, a list of sustainable goods shall be published and updated regularly in the PhilGEPS.