Green Public Procurement Training Course

Duration 10 days 17 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Public Procurement Managers, Procurement Officers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-P-121

Before you join: Participants should understand the basic public procurement cycle, including needs definition, tendering, evaluation, award and contract management.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Public purchasers face increasing pressure to reduce carbon emissions, waste, toxic substances and resource use without compromising competition, value for money, service continuity or auditability. Green public procurement requires more than adding environmental wording to a tender. Teams must identify material impacts, translate policy priorities into proportionate specifications and award criteria, test supplier evidence, calculate life-cycle costs and manage delivery after contract award.

This course develops the practical methods needed to plan and run environmentally responsible public procurements. Participants work through spend and category prioritisation, market engagement, life-cycle thinking, technical specifications, ecolabels, minimum requirements, award criteria, life-cycle costing, supplier due diligence, contract clauses and performance measurement. The course addresses the legal principles that protect fair competition: transparency, equal treatment, non-discrimination, proportionality and clear evaluation rules.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings with public-sector cases, tender-document reviews, group analysis, supplier-dialogue simulations and structured application planning. Participants progressively build a green procurement package for a selected category, such as fleet vehicles, construction works, catering, ICT equipment, cleaning services or facilities management. They leave with a documented category strategy, requirements schedule, evaluation model, life-cycle cost model, supplier evidence plan and contract-management scorecard that can be adapted for their own authority.

The course is suited to procurement professionals, contract managers, sustainability teams and technical budget holders who already contribute to public purchasing decisions. It is particularly useful where an organisation has climate, circular economy, waste-reduction or sustainable-development commitments but needs defensible tendering methods to turn those commitments into awarded and managed contracts.

What you will be able to do

  • Prioritise procurement categories using spend, risk, carbon and market-readiness criteria
  • Apply ISO 20400 principles to green public procurement planning and governance
  • Draft proportionate environmental specifications, selection requirements and award criteria
  • Calculate life-cycle costs using purchase, operating, maintenance and end-of-life data
  • Assess supplier environmental evidence, ecolabel claims and certification equivalence
  • Design transparent weighted evaluation models for environmental tender assessment
  • Write contract clauses and KPIs for environmental performance management
  • Present a complete green procurement strategy and tender package for a priority category

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce defensible green tender requirements without restricting fair competition
  • Build life-cycle cost cases that support budget-holder decisions
  • Recognise weak supplier environmental claims before contract award
  • Lead informed market engagement on environmental solutions
  • Create measurable contract controls for carbon, waste and circularity commitments

For your organisation

  • Converts environmental policy commitments into auditable procurement controls
  • Reduces whole-life costs through energy, maintenance and disposal analysis
  • Improves supplier accountability for environmental delivery commitments
  • Strengthens tender defensibility through proportionate and transparent criteria
  • Creates category-level evidence for climate and circular-economy reporting

Course modules

17 modules over 10 days

Participants can explain the purpose, scope and operating principles of green public procurement.

  • Green public procurement objectives linked to climate, circularity and health outcomes
  • Public procurement principles: transparency, equal treatment, proportionality and competition
  • ISO 20400 guidance for sustainable procurement governance and decision-making
  • Distinguishing environmental minimum requirements from scored award criteria
  • Procurement lifecycle decisions shaping environmental impacts and supplier behaviour
  • Policy-to-tender traceability from organisational targets to contract controls

Participants can establish governance arrangements that support lawful green procurement decisions.

  • Mapping national procurement law, environmental policy and delegated authority requirements
  • Defining roles for procurement, technical experts, finance and sustainability teams
  • Approval gates for environmental requirements, evaluation models and contract variations
  • Audit trails supporting challenged environmental specifications and award decisions
  • Managing conflicts between environmental ambitions, affordability and service requirements
  • Governance dashboard reporting priority categories, targets, progress and exceptions

Participants can select priority categories using evidence-based environmental and commercial criteria.

  • Classifying spend by category, supplier, contract value and renewal timing
  • Carbon hotspot screening using spend data and category emission factors
  • Kraljic matrix adapted for environmental impact and supply-market risk
  • Prioritisation scoring for emissions, waste, toxicity, spend and market maturity
  • Identifying quick wins, strategic categories and unsuitable intervention areas
  • Creating a green procurement pipeline aligned with contract renewal dates

Participants can identify material environmental impacts across a product or service life cycle.

  • Life-cycle stages from raw materials through use, recovery and disposal
  • Materiality assessment identifying significant impacts within each procurement category
  • Circular economy strategies: reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish and recycle
  • Avoiding burden shifting between carbon, water, waste and hazardous substances
  • Functional needs statements replacing prescriptive product-based demand descriptions
  • Category impact maps linking demand choices to tender interventions

Participants can engage markets fairly to test feasible environmental procurement requirements.

  • Supplier market mapping by capability, certification, geography and competitive intensity
  • Prior information notices used to signal upcoming environmental requirements
  • Request for information questions testing solutions, costs and evidence availability
  • Supplier engagement protocols protecting equal treatment and documented communications
  • Testing market readiness for low-carbon, circular and non-toxic alternatives
  • Using market feedback to refine requirements without favouring incumbent suppliers

Participants can prepare a category strategy that integrates environmental, commercial and delivery decisions.

  • Category strategy template linking demand, risks, market options and targets
  • Baseline data requirements for energy, emissions, waste and material consumption
  • Setting outcome targets with boundaries, baselines, owners and reporting frequencies
  • Make-or-buy and demand-management decisions reducing unnecessary consumption
  • Sourcing options: purchase, lease, service models and shared-use arrangements
  • Risk register covering supply continuity, cost, evidence and performance failure

Participants can draft clear, proportionate environmental technical specifications and performance requirements.

  • Technical specifications based on functional performance rather than brand references
  • Minimum environmental requirements expressed through measurable thresholds and test methods
  • Ecolabel criteria and equivalent evidence under open competition principles
  • EN 15804 environmental product declarations for construction material comparisons
  • Energy efficiency requirements using recognised product performance classifications
  • Accessibility, durability and repairability requirements supporting responsible purchasing

Participants can set lawful supplier qualification requirements and evidence checks.

  • Selection criteria distinguishing supplier capability from tender solution quality
  • Environmental management systems: ISO 14001 certification and equivalent evidence
  • Exclusion grounds related to environmental law breaches and remediation
  • Evidence matrices matching each requirement to documents, tests or declarations
  • Assessing self-declarations, certificates, audit reports and third-party verification
  • Proportionality tests preventing unnecessary barriers for small and medium suppliers

Participants can create transparent environmental award criteria and scoring guidance.

  • Most economically advantageous tender models balancing price, quality and environment
  • Award criteria linked directly to contract subject matter and deliverables
  • Weighted scoring models with anchors, evidence requirements and moderation rules
  • Quality questions assessing delivery methods, innovation and environmental outcomes
  • Avoiding double counting between specifications, selection criteria and award scores
  • Evaluator guidance defining acceptable evidence and score differentiation

Participants can compare procurement options using a transparent life-cycle cost model.

  • Life-cycle costing components: acquisition, operation, maintenance, replacement and disposal
  • Discounted cash flow calculations using stated discount rates and assumptions
  • Energy, fuel, water and consumables modelled from usage profiles
  • External environmental costs included only where lawful methods permit
  • Sensitivity analysis for price escalation, utilisation, lifespan and residual value
  • Documenting cost-model inputs, data sources and calculation assumptions

Participants can specify practical environmental data requirements for procurement decisions and reporting.

  • Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions applied to purchased goods
  • GHG Protocol product life-cycle concepts for supplier emissions reporting
  • Activity data, emission factors and estimation methods for procurement baselines
  • Data-quality assessment covering completeness, accuracy, timeliness and verification
  • Supplier reporting templates for carbon, waste, recycled content and packaging
  • Preventing misleading comparisons caused by inconsistent boundaries and units

Participants can incorporate circular economy requirements into tender and contract designs.

  • Circular procurement hierarchy prioritising reduction, reuse, repair and remanufacture
  • Product-as-a-service models allocating maintenance and end-of-life responsibilities
  • Take-back clauses for packaging, equipment, furniture and construction materials
  • Minimum recycled-content requirements with traceability and quality safeguards
  • Design-for-disassembly requirements enabling repair, reuse and material recovery
  • Asset registers tracking lifespan, condition, repair history and disposal routes

Participants can assess environmental supply-chain risks and specify appropriate supplier controls.

  • Tiered supply-chain mapping for high-risk materials, components and services
  • Environmental due diligence addressing deforestation, pollution and illegal waste
  • Chain-of-custody evidence for timber, minerals, recycled materials and biomass
  • Supplier corrective action plans with milestones, ownership and verification methods
  • Audit planning based on spend, environmental risk and supplier performance
  • Escalation routes for non-conformance, remediation, sanctions and termination

Participants can convert tender commitments into enforceable environmental contract controls.

  • Contract clauses defining baselines, targets, reporting periods and data ownership
  • Environmental KPIs for energy, emissions, waste, reuse and compliance
  • Service credits and remedies linked to measurable environmental non-performance
  • Mobilisation plans confirming data systems, responsibilities and verification arrangements
  • Supplier review meetings using performance dashboards and corrective action logs
  • Change-control procedures assessing environmental effects of contract modifications

Participants can run a disciplined evaluation process for environmental tender submissions.

  • Evaluator briefing covering confidentiality, conflicts, scoring and evidence standards
  • Individual scoring before consensus moderation and documented score reconciliation
  • Clarification questions distinguishing confirmation from prohibited tender improvement
  • Abnormally low tender assessment considering environmental delivery feasibility
  • Evaluation records supporting award reports, debriefings and challenge responses
  • Award recommendation linking scores, risks, conditions and approval requirements

Participants can plan adoption of green procurement methods across procurement teams and stakeholders.

  • Implementation roadmap sequencing policy, tools, training, pilots and scale-up
  • Stakeholder mapping for budget holders, users, suppliers and senior sponsors
  • Procurement playbooks standardising templates, approval routes and evidence expectations
  • Pilot category selection balancing visibility, feasibility, value and learning potential
  • Benefits tracking linking procurement interventions to environmental and financial results
  • Lessons-learned reviews updating criteria, models and contract-management controls

Participants can build, review and present a complete green procurement strategy and tender package for a priority category.

  • Category baseline combining spend, demand, environmental impacts and market evidence
  • Green procurement strategy defining objectives, scope, risks and sourcing approach
  • Requirements schedule containing specifications, evidence requests and performance thresholds
  • Award model combining weighted criteria, scoring anchors and life-cycle costs
  • Contract-management scorecard covering KPIs, reporting, verification and corrective actions
  • Peer review against legality, proportionality, competition and deliverability tests
  • Presentation of procurement package to a simulated approval panel

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Green procurement category strategy template
  2. Environmental requirements and evidence matrix
  3. Life-cycle cost model spreadsheet
  4. Weighted environmental tender evaluation model
  5. Supplier environmental due diligence checklist
  6. Environmental contract KPI scorecard

Who should attend

  • Public Procurement Managers — responsible for policy-compliant sourcing and tender governance
  • Procurement Officers — drafting tender documents and evaluating supplier submissions
  • Contract Managers — monitoring environmental commitments after contract award
  • Sustainability Managers — converting environmental targets into procurement requirements
  • Technical Specifiers — defining credible requirements for works, goods or services
  • Finance and Budget Managers — assessing whole-life costs and budget implications

Skills and tools covered

Green category strategyLife-cycle costingEnvironmental specificationsTender evaluation designSupplier evidence assessmentSustainable contract management

Tools and standards

ISO 20400, ISO 14001, GHG Protocol, EN 15804

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish legal, commercial and environmental concepts, followed by case work drawn from public purchasing categories. Participants analyse tender extracts, compare supplier evidence, construct life-cycle cost models and apply weighted evaluation methods. Group exercises examine trade-offs between price, environmental performance, competition and delivery risk. Simulated market engagement and evaluation discussions develop judgement. Throughout both weeks, participants apply each method to a selected procurement category and refine a practical tender and contract-management package.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should understand the basic public procurement cycle, including needs definition, tendering, evaluation, award and contract management. Experience preparing specifications, contributing to evaluations, managing suppliers or advising public-sector projects is useful. Participants should be able to read tender documents and work with basic cost data in a spreadsheet. No prior sustainability qualification, carbon-accounting expertise, engineering background or specialist environmental-science knowledge is required. The course explains relevant environmental concepts through procurement decisions and category examples.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need a working knowledge of the public procurement cycle and should be comfortable reading tender documents. Prior sustainability training is not required; environmental concepts are introduced through procurement categories and decisions.

Bring a laptop for cost models, document review and application planning. Participants should also bring a current or upcoming procurement category, tender extract, contract requirement or policy challenge where permitted by confidentiality rules.

It suits public procurement officers, procurement managers, contract managers, sustainability professionals and technical staff who shape purchasing requirements. The methods also apply to publicly funded agencies, utilities and organisations operating formal tender procedures.

This course concentrates on public procurement controls: proportionate specifications, transparent evaluation, documented evidence and contract-management obligations. It gives particular attention to legal defensibility, fair competition and tender documentation.

Participants develop a category strategy and procurement package during the course, using their own category where suitable. The templates can be adapted for upcoming tenders, supplier reviews and internal approval papers.

The first week establishes governance, prioritisation, life-cycle thinking, market analysis and tender design. The second week develops costing, carbon data, circularity, due diligence, contract management and a capstone procurement package; each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 with about 6.5 contact hours.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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