KnowledgeEuropean public tender
Sustainability as an award criterion: how to score points with it
More and more public tenders weigh sustainability. Sometimes as a requirement, more often as an award criterion that earns you points or a discount. Many bidders get stuck at sufficient, because they describe what their company does in general. You score points with what you will do on this contract.
Written by the Atvalio editorial team: people who spent years bidding on tenders themselves. About us
From general to this contract
- Sufficient“We are a sustainable organisation.”A policy, a certificate, a reference to the annual report. All true, but not about this contract.
- Excellent“On this contract, all buses run electric from month three. By our calculation that cuts more than a third of the transport CO2 emissions, and we report every quarter.”Fictional example. Specific to this contract, with a date, a number and a way to check it.
A panel can only award points for what it can check. So make every measure measurable: what you do, from when, what it delivers, and how you report on it. Connect to what the buyer itself wants to achieve. Many organisations publish their sustainability goals. A plan that reflects those goals is written for points. More in writing for points.
Do not tell what your company does. Tell what you will do on this contract, and how the buyer can measure it.
The CO2 Performance Ladder
The CO2 Performance Ladder (CO2-Prestatieladder) is a Dutch instrument to drive CO2 reduction. You see it more and more in Dutch tenders. It is well known, accessible, and its levels make it achievable for almost any organisation, including smaller ones.
The ladder’s owner advises buyers to use it as an award criterion, not a requirement: requiring a certificate, it says, is discriminatory and disproportionate. As a bidder you choose an ambition level and receive an award advantage for it, as a discount on your price or as points.
| Ambition level (version 4.0) | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Level 1 | Mainly energy use and the use of equipment, transport and travel. Example advantage: 5%. |
| Level 2 | Adds the CO2 impact of materials, subcontractors and the chain, for the main activities. Example: 10%. |
| Level 3 | All project activities and other emissions you can influence, with a required dialogue on CO2 reduction. Example: 15%. |
The percentages are examples from the owner’s guidance; the buyer sets the actual advantage. The older levels 4 and 5 may still be used until 14 January 2027.
You do not need a certificate when you bid. According to the guidance, you prove the chosen level within a year of the award, with a certificate or a project statement from a certification body, and every year after that. Miss it and a sanction from the tender documents applies; the guidance suggests about one and a half times the award advantage. So choose a level you will genuinely meet.
An award advantage as a discount works like scoring on value: your price is counted lower for the evaluation. What that is worth against price and other quality points, read in price and quality.
Know what may come
Dutch public buyers often use the MVI criteria tool from PIANOo, the Dutch public procurement expertise centre, with sustainability criteria per product group: requirements, award criteria and contract clauses, at three ambition levels. It is meant for buyers, but also useful for you to see what may be asked in your market. That way you prepare your plan before the tender appears. Social return also falls under socially responsible procurement.
HOW ATVALIO HELPS
Atvalio takes the sustainability requirements and criteria from the tender documents, with the weighting and the page, and looks up the goals the buyer has published. It writes a first draft from the measures in your profile, specific to this contract and with measurable targets, and lets a simulated panel read along. You choose the ambition level.
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