"IÖB-Tool" Housing and renewable energy technologies

Innovation-promoting public procurement tool for housing and renewable energy technologies

Short Description

Project Summary

The guiding concept for an innovation-promoting public procurement in Austria ("Leitkonzept für eine innovationsfördernde öffentliche Beschaffung (IÖB) in Österreich") mobilizes an additional, demand-driven budget for the promotion of innovation.

To assist public procurement agencies in the realization of the objectives formulated in the guiding concept the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT) - Department of Energy and Environmental Technologies has commissioned the development of an "IÖB-Tool". This tool supports public procurement agencies in the decision-making process and lets the public procurement sector become a key player in the active promotion of innovation.

The Austrian Society for Environment and Technology (ÖGUT) together with the Energy and Environment Agency Lower Austria (eNu) and the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU Wien) elaborated two independently applicable tool-modules encompassing on the one hand new criteria that can be drawn upon to favor innovative products and services in the decision-making process and on the other hand evaluation measures focusing on the improvement of pro-innovative public procurement.

With the IÖB - guiding concept the BMVIT and the bmwfj have set a milestone in the demand-driven innovation policy. The public sector can achieve a high level of leverage opening a highly attractive market for innovative products and services with a fraction of their annual budget (currently around 40 billion Euros).

The new legally approved criteria include the level of innovation, risk mitigation (both technically and economically) and new positive opportunities (synergy effects, additional benefits, etc.). These criteria have been tested and modified for each sub-module in order to maximize utility and ensure a high acceptance rate among potential operators.

The project output consists of the following four sub-modules:

  • Module A1 - Innovation-promoting public procurement tool for juries
  • Module A2 - Innovation criteria for the N.Check-Purchase
  • Module B1 - Questionnaire for the evaluation of pro-innovation procurement operations
  • Module B2 - Questionnaire component for the N.Check-Purchase

The "IÖB-Tool" was created considering compatibility with other public procurement processes and tools, as for example the N.Check-Purchase (a new online-tool of the Lower Austrian state government). The "IÖB-Tool" is therefore suitable for a wide range of application fields, which go far beyond the topic of buildings and renewable energy technologies. In the region of Lower Austria the tool has already been successfully tested.

Contact Address

Austrian Society for Environment and Technology (ÖGUT)
DI.in Susanne Supper
E-Mail: susanne.supper@oegut.at
Web: www.oegut.at