One of the three main themes of Fintraffic's procurement strategy is responsible procurements that produce value. But how is responsibility visible in procurements in practice? Tuija Sinkkonen, Procurement Manager at Fintraffic, explains how compliance with the principles of responsibility can be used to produce services that create the greatest possible benefit for the user in a sustainable manner.
A significant part of Fintraffic's operations is procurement work in which the necessary materials, services and implementation are obtained from an external operator. For this purpose, the procurement team is responsible for helping the business to tender out the required service.
"In many procurement units, the procurement work is divided into two separate teams. The competitive tendering teams focus on the processing of individual procurements, whereas the task of the category work team is to keep up with the latest developments in the sector and to find out what is trendy. At Fintraffic, these teams have been merged, as their objectives complement each other closely: the competitive tendering process also produces information on events in the field, and category work helps lay a foundation on future procurements", says Tuija Sinkkonen, who works as Procurement Manager at Fintraffic.
Sinkkonen says that she first got interested in public procurements when she was studying a Master's degree in Economics and Business Administration at LUT University. The studies also included courses related to different procurements. The course professor stated that procurement units in public procurement may easily be misled, as it is difficult to find sufficient competence.
"That was when I decided that I wanted to be involved in bringing expertise to public procurements. This is also a sector where there is always something to be learned and you are never fully done. More and more expertise is always needed," she laughs.
Responsibility has a significant impact on ensuring high-quality services
According to Sinkkonen, responsibility for procurements can be divided into three areas: financial responsibility in order to exclude grey economy operators in procurements; environmental responsibility in order to ensure that the procurements are carried out in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner; and social responsibility in order to maximise the employment impacts of procurements.
"Public procurement has a very significant positive impact on employment. Our activities include ensuring that participation in procurements is also possible for SMEs, which account for a significant share of Finnish corporations. This makes it possible to have as many players as possible in the market.”
According to Sinkkonen, the application requirements of tenderers should be seen as a wider societal issue than just a question of an individual procurement, so that there are actors in Finland that operate fairly.
"Requirements are very important for our welfare society: the total amount of public procurement is about EUR 50 billion a year, and it is important that these euros go to companies that bear their social responsibilities, for example by paying their taxes. By choosing reliable operators, we can ensure that we provide services of the highest quality for Finns.”
Responsibility is constantly expanding
According to Sinkkonen, even though responsibility is not a new phenomenon in procurement, its emphasis has increased in recent years. One example of this is that for example HUS opened an application process for a separate responsibility expert in spring 2023.
"Responsibility issues have always been part of procurements through the Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts, but now, as a result of climate change, responsibility has also been examined more from the environmental perspective. A few years ago, the only templates for environmentally responsible procurement were perhaps in the transport sector, and road procurement, for example, had recommendations related to vehicles, engine oil and fuel. However, now more extensive information and quality criteria have become a part of operations for environmental responsibility, which guide procurements,' she explains.
The challenge lies in the fact that responsibility issues are extensive and complex entities in which many different issues must be taken into account. Information is needed for this, but obtaining it may prove to be difficult or complex. Even though, according to Sinkkonen, understanding is always increasing, there will always be a need to build knowledge.
"Certainly there are still areas of responsibility that have not yet been taken into account. For example, as artificial intelligence and robotics become more widespread, it will be necessary to find answers to completely new questions related to who, for example, bears the consequences of false instructions issued by artificial intelligence. There will be something new all the time, and in a few years' time we will be discussing new things," she ponders.
Five key points to responsible procurement
- Public procurement consists of supply, service and construction contracts that are procured from outside the organisation. Procurement is carried out by the central government, municipalities and joint municipal authorities, state enterprises and other contracting entities specified in procurement legislation.
- Procurement is governed by national procurement laws and EU procurement directives, the aim of which is to improve the efficiency of the use of public funds and improve the competitiveness of companies and to ensure the highest quality of services.
- Procurement work is divided into the work on individual procurements and strategic category work, the aim of which is to accumulate knowledge of the sector's selection and prospects to support procurements.
- Procurement responsibility can be divided into three areas: economic responsibility, environmental responsibility and social responsibility.
- Public procurement and related responsibility issues can be studied at universities of applied sciences and on courses organised by private actors.
