CABRIO: Circular Administrative Provisions and Guidelines In Public Contracts

Type descriptions to integrate circularity into public procurement

Public procurement represents a significant share of Belgium's gross domestic product. Making circular solutions prevalent in such contracts can have a strong influence on the further transition to a circular economy. 

However, contracting authorities have a hard time integrating circular requirements and practices into their specifications, due to, among other things, the lack of exemplary circular specifications and experience with circular construction, the difficulty of mixing works tenders with service tenders (in the case of product-service combinations), and the difficulty of mixing tenders with calls for tenders (e.g. in the case of recycled materials). 

Through the CABRIO project, Blieberg A.C.E.'s ambition is to produce type descriptions that governments can use in their type specifications. The descriptions, in the form of paragraphs to be added, chapters ..., would be available for 5 circular ambition levels: from low-level (XS) to very in-depth (XL). 

By creating these type descriptions, we hope that more public authorities will include circular criteria in their contracts, thus providing a great lever for the circular construction sector.