The week of the circular economy
This week is the Week of the Circular Economy, which is why in Aratis Perspectief we reflect on circularity in the aratis field. Circularity is perhaps the superlative of sustainability, both are indispensable in tenders in 2020. Our customers (usually the client in a tender) often already have objectives or policies for, for example, the degree of circularity, CO2 reduction or the use of renewable energy. Whether goals are concrete and quantified, abstact or one-sided, an organization must also (start) acting on them, for example in the purchasing policy.
Aratis has already successfully applied sustainability and circularity in various tenders, as an award criterion and/or in the form of contract requirements. You can think of the Social Cost Indicator (MKI) as an award criterion, of recording sustainability KPIs as a minimum contract requirement, but also of reporting requirements in this area. The MKI calculation is the most drastic measure, the tenderer makes a calculation of the total environmental impact of his scope during the tender.
Through adjustments in his design and execution method, he has influence on the outcome of this MKI number. The number – the monetized environmental impact – partly determines the fictitious registration price with which a more sustainable registration has a better chance of winning. Subsequently, the verification and validation of this promised environmental impact must be firmly anchored in the contract with reporting requirements and a penalty for not achieving the promised MKI number.
Aratis has positive experiences with the application of this method in infrastructural projects (GWW) and in (offshore) wind. Where we see that parties in the GWW are generally familiar with the matter, in other sectors there is often still some uncertainty or awkwardness. That is why extra attention must be paid to this in a tender (but also in the implementation) in order to include parties in the goals and methods.
Do you have questions about circularity in your tender? Please contact Floris Heijckmann via floris.heijckmann@aratis.nl.
The Week of the Circular Economy is an annual, national campaign week. The week is organized by the Versnellingshuis Nederland circulair!, a program that helps entrepreneurs to successfully develop, launch and scale up products and services in the circular economy.
