3. „ ÖkoKauf Wien“ is a cross-departmental programme attached to the Executive Group of the City of Vienna. The aim of the „ÖkoKaufWien“ programme is to enhance the environmental compatibility of the city‘s procurement system in line with the principles of climate protection and EU- procurement regulations.

4. Texts for invitations to tender, criteria catalogues and other guidelines to be used in the field of procurement, as well as pilot projects are being developed. By now, there are about 130 such product catalogues for supply, construction and other services regularly procured by the City of Vienna. An important factor for the success of the “ÖkoKauf Wien” programme is its broad structure which involves more than 200 experts from all spheres of the Vienna City Administration as well as a number of external experts.

5. The currently 23 working groups develop, evaluate and update relevant ecological criteria in the fields of printing and paper, electrical and electronic appliances, construction, vehicle fleet, food, disinfectants and cleaning agents, textiles, events etc. Advisory committees, supporting the working groups, have been established for public relations and legal issues.

6. Intensive public relations work helps to make the results of „ÖkoKaufWien“ available to all interested parties, such as public procurers, commercial enterprises and the citizens. Before being published, the results of the „ÖkoKaufWien“ programme are legally reviewed to ensure they can be applied without any problems.

7. Nearly all the results of „ÖkoKaufWien“ are available on the internet ( www.oekokauf.wien.at ). Other public procurers, large industrial enterprises and private households in Austria and Europe have shown interest in the programme. In 2008 the European Union has asked Member States to prepare National Action Plans on Sustainable Procurement. The Austrian Action Plan was adopted in 2011. It was prepared with the substantial collaboration of „ÖkoKaufWien“ and uses the results of the „ÖkoKaufWien“ programme in the ten priority issues defined by the European Commission. In 2010 „ÖkoKaufWien“ won the UN-Habitat Dubai Price for „Best Practice Transfer Award“.

8. “ ÖkoKaufWien” proved that the preconception that ecological requirements for products or services leads to higher costs is wrong. Tenders show that in most cases, prices are in the usual range for the relevant products or services. When lower operating costs, longer life cycles and lower disposal costs are taken into account, the calculation shows a significant reduction in costs in nearly all cases. Since “ÖkoKauf Wien” is organised as a programme, it incurs hardly any additional administrative costs. The guide-lines and products are developed by practitioners for practitioners and can be integrated immediately in existing procurement procedures.

9. Cautious calculations of the outcome of “ÖkoKauf Wien” revealed that by applying the results of the “ÖkoKaufWien”  programme the City of Vienna saves about 17 million euro and 30,000 t of CO 2 emissions each year. As an example, the installation of water saving gate valves in official buildings, schools and kindergardens brings a cost reduction of approximately 1.5 Million Euro per year.

10. “ ÖkoKauf Wien” has become a permanent institution of the City of Vienna’s procurement activities. We continue , both in terms of organisation and content, to expand the range of issues and goals addressed, to continually update the ecological requirements and to upgrade them if necessary.