A new tool to promote fairer, healthier and more sustainable catering services in Barcelona
This audiovisual guide can help procurement staff as well as companies interested in bidding to offer a service in line with the city’s social and environmental values.
Barcelona continues to promote sustainable eating in all spaces where people consume food. Now the city is doing so through the distribution of new audiovisual resource offering a practical guide on including social, environmental and nutritional criteria in the public procurement of catering services, according to the technical instruction on the application of sustainability criteria in food services, revised in 2022.
The video adopts an agile and educational format to summarise key aspects to bear in mind to guarantee healthier and mores sustainable local catering services, from the drafting of clauses through to the assessment of proposals made.
Useful tool for companies
Besides procurement teams, the video may be of particular interest to companies tendering in public competitions. The guide helps towards a better understanding of what is required, what is valued positively and how services can be adapted to offer menus that meet the goals of the Barcelona Sustainable Food Action Plan.
These criteria can also provide guidance for any company or organisation contracting a one-off catering service.
What is asked for and what is valued?
The video details the various requisites which must be included in procurement contracts, in line with the municipal instruction. For instance, 50% of the food options must be vegetable based, coffee and chocolate must be organic fair trade products, and water must be locally supplied and served in jugs.
Besides these minimum requisites, the video also sets out the assessment criteria that can make the difference when it comes to awarding the contract. Notable points include: the increase in the number of local seasonal and organic products and the environmental quality of the vehicle fleet and emissions associated with transport.
Municipal commitment to a transformational food model
This initiative is in line with Barcelona City Council’s desire to lead the change towards fairer and more sustainable food system, also from the public sector. As a tool for transformation, public procurement can directly help drive a more responsible food model, reducing the environmental impact and fostering the consumption of healthy, local organic produce.