Rotterdam, the city of innovation and experimentation - get inspired!
Renowned for its innovative spirit and experimental urban projects, Rotterdam recently hosted a staff exchange as part of the BUILD project. It boasts to be the second largest city in The Netherlands, and the largest city within the BUILD project consortium. Thus, the exchange provided a unique opportunity for procurement professionals to learn from Rotterdam’s cutting-edge practices.
Key topics
In line with other staff exchanges, the program offered both theoretical and practical learning sessions, giving participants the opportunity to truly enjoy this innovative city. The activities included:
- Presentation of sustainability management in Rotterdam
- Procurement tools for medium-sized companies
- Innovative tender processes
- Comparison of processes between Tartu and Turku
Innovative procurement practices
Rotterdam’s procurement process is marked by its flexibility and focus on local economic support. Unlike other cities, Rotterdam can opt to tender procurements to a selected number of local companies, supporting local businesses more effectively.
To support this with numbers, Rotterdam’s procurements need to be sent to only 3 – 5 companies when the price is below €221,000 . Compared to Finland’s requirement to nationalise procurements exceeding €60,000. This allows Rotterdam to better support local businesses and stimulate the local economy.
Additionally, their progressive salary system for procurers incentivises expertise and performance, providing higher salaries for higher experience. The procurers work by procurement type, such as IT or social procurements, for example.
In comparison with Turku’s general procurement management, this approach is totally opposite, but possible as Rotterdam is way bigger, with more resources, space, experts and citizens involved in procurement practices. In the Dutch city, 14,000 workers are responsible for maintaining the city, including development specialists.
Sustainability and inclusivity
A highlight of the staff exchange was Rotterdam’s “we buy a better world” sustainability map. It integrates ambitious sustainability questions into procurement processes. Furthermore, Rotterdam’s long-standing practice of using public procurement to assist people distanced from the labour market was particularly inspiring for participants.
Key takeaways
The Cairo system in Rotterdam gained a lot of interest to enhance procurement efficiency and provide useful statistics in the guests’ cities – Tartu and Turku. This system collects all procurements and analyses the time spent on each. Moreover, it provides managers with valuable insights for decision-making and tracks market research with useful metrics.
Most of all, BUILD colleagues were impressed by Rotterdam’s innovative approaches and tangible benefits of their procurement strategies. The flexibility in their procurement thresholds, the local procurement approach and the integration of sustainability and social inclusion into procurement practices were key takeaways.
Conclusion
Rotterdam’s staff exchange exemplified the city’s role as a leader in innovation and experimentation. By adopting some of Rotterdam’s practices, other European cities can enhance their procurement processes, promoting sustainability and local economic growth.
