The objectives of this procurement procedure were to provide comprehensive care for homeless people in Valladolid through the management of the Municipal Shelter in the Integrated Centre for Homeless People, as well as to inform, advise on various resources, design individualised integration pathways and refer homeless people in Valladolid to other relevant social, health and employment services. Given that the aim of the contract is not only to provide meals and overnight stays, but also to develop activities in the day centre and networking with other entities and institutions, the quality of the project related to the proposed model of care and inclusion, including the organisational and staff management model, was prioritised over criteria of an economic nature.

The Municipality of Rincón de la Victoria sought to purchase from a third party a conservation and maintenance service for public green spaces in the municipal district. This procurement included social and environmental aspects in both award criteria and contract performance conditions. The justification for this choice is that environmental conditions are central to the execution of a contract related to the natural environment. In addition, given that the provision of this service heavily relies on labour, the contracting authority has considered it appropriate to reinforce the employment and wage stability of the potential contractor by including social conditions.

The City of Malmö is using universal design principles to improve accessibility, as demonstrated by its 2021 procurement of furniture. In July 2021, Malmö issued a tender for a framework agreement for the supply of furniture which included criteria for universal design. Universal design aims to make physical infrastructure, goods and services accessible to people of all ages, sizes and abilities. The tender specification required that the furniture met at least the first two principles (out of seven) of universal design.

A group of ten public research organisations from 7 European countries – headed by CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research - joined forces in a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) project, which aimed to design a cloud-based system specifically for science and research. The objective of this procurement was to address the challenge of big data storage and analysis tools which required a combination of services under an innovative Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) mode. The consortium, as first buyers of new research and development (R&D) with important technological needs, chose a PCP approach in order to drive innovation from the demand side.

The Municipality of Frederiksberg decided to use an innovation partnership approach to procure a customised solution that responds to urban flooding. As an ideal solution suitable for dense city streets was not yet available on the market, Frederiksberg used an innovation partnership model in order to procure a customised solution for heavy rainfall management. To ensure technical and professional ability of selected suppliers, applicants had to submit between one and four references demonstrating the execution of relevant research and innovation projects within the past three years. A research and innovation project was considered relevant if it resulted in the applicant launching an innovative product or solution on the market.

The City of Koprivnica conducted a public procurement of innovation by which instead of buying ‘off-the-shelf’ solutions, the public buyer acts as an early adopter or launch customer of innovative solutions new to the market. The city aimed to refurbish an old prefabricated kindergarten building from the 1980s that accommodates about 170 children. A market analysis indicated that there was no solution for the refurbishment of a prefabricated wooden house available on the Croatian market. Therefore, the City decided to conduct a public procurement of innovation (PPI).

Rijkswaterstaat (Department of Waterways and Public Works) had HKV develop the innovative data tool MIJ Brein, the visual insights provided by the tool give information about the factors that are important for the management of the Markermeer and IJmeer, such as biodiversity and water quality. Because the open source development is in the DigiShape community, the innovation ultimately becomes more scalable and applicable for nature management. The procurement was done in the form of a contest in which tenders were asked to develop a proof of concept and to pitch their ideas to a jury in order to test the feasibility of their plans.

The province of South Holland saw an opportunity to start a project to contribute to sustainability besides a major planned maintenance on the N211 and N470 roads. Innovations along or on the road generate or save energy. The province found a way to implement a testing ground that does not cost energy but produces energy. The N211 is now the first 'CO2 negative road' in the Netherlands.

The Dutch Ministry of Justice set up an Innovation Partnership with the Institute of Physical Safety and the Netherlands Fire Department. Thanks to the use of this innovation-oriented purchasing instrument, the fire brigade can now use satellite technology to prevent forest fires. The successful innovation project, in which the Netherlands Space Office was also involved, was made financially possible by the Innovation Team of the Ministry. What made the project unique was that the government was able to purchase the jointly developed innovation directly.

Up-to-date technology is indispensable for the armed forces. From artificial intelligence to virtual and augmented reality. The Ministry of Defense therefore set up FRONT (Future Relevant Operations with Next generation Technology & Thinking): a team that scouts new technologies from market parties for military application. The start of FRONT has led to a different view of purchasing and ways to innovate faster at the ministry. FRONT works with startups to apply new technologies in its own organization as quickly as possible.

Utrecht University has the ambition to no longer purchase new furniture. By maximizing high-quality reuse, the University wants to significantly reduce the environmental impact of its purchases. The tender consisted of three lots with the aim of maximum reuse of the furniture. The University’s storage is therefore the most important and also the most innovative part of the assignment. This prevents purchasing in its entirety. Not purchasing is still more sustainable than purchasing responsibly after all. This makes the University unique in its approach.

The Dutch Tax Authority asked tenderers to write an action plan with the aim of not purchasing any new furniture. In the form of award criteria, tenderers could score on components such as reduction of materials and refurbishment of office furniture. The starting point within this agreement was that the quality of the furniture would remain at least at the same level. This was successful, as 95% of the employees did not realise their furniture was recycled.

The Dutch Custodial Institution Agency received complaints about the lack of quality, flexibility and choice in prison foods which has generated a large quantity of food waste. This tender sought to follow the Dutch Nutrition Centre’s science-based Disk of Five Dietary Guidelines, contribute to the reintegration of detainees, address the issue of climate change and stimulate a protein transition from meat to plant-based without compromising the quality or taste of the meals. The tendering process included a market consultation stage, that has resulted in each chosen supplier partnering with a smaller organisation with greater topical or technical expertise on how to work with detainees and assist with the reintegration of detainees. This increases the quality of services.

The City of Rotterdam performed a joint procurement with integrated route coordination in order to improve service quality while reducing costs. The objective of this procurement was to provide a sustainable service, oriented around user needs and contributing a social return to the City of Rotterdam. In order to ensure the service met end-users’ needs, Rotterdam undertook comprehensive customer-focused research to uncover the unmet needs and customer journeys that called for multidisciplinary solutions. The city used an innovative Forward Commitment Procurement procedure , with a competitive dialogue process that included representatives from end-user groups giving direct feedback.

The Dutch Province of North Holland, responsible for the renewal of the Cruquius Bridge, committed to maintaining high sustainability standards using a competitive dialogue as a tendering format to encourage deeper engagement several parties, facilitate the inclusion of innovative solutions, and demonstrate development plans. The project's ambitions of circular, energy-neutral and low-maintenance were defined through rigorous discussions among the team, stakeholders and market consultations with over 120 participants.