THE TRANSFORM ATION IN TO INNOVATION FRIENDLY

PROCUREM ENT
Louise Strand*

ABSTRACT. Region Skne air aiming to stimulate growth and develop the
healthcare and the vision is to be the most innovative region 2020. We are
transforming our public procurement in to an innovation friendly
procurement that is open towards new products and entrepreneurs instead
of demanding the same products as before. The transformation includes
several steps for instance a market analysis which add knowledge of trends,
developing of new products and new entrepreneurs, describing our needs in
functional terms, devide contracts, and simplifying our procurement
documents in order to lower input thresholds. To challenge demands on the
goods and services we procure and to have early dialogue with
entrepreneurs is of great importance in order to be innovation friendly.
INTRODUCTION

Region Skne is responsible for healthcare and public transport,

business development, culture, infrastructure, social planning and
environmental and climate-related issues in Skne. With 32.000
employees Region Skne is one of Swedens largest employers.
Innovation procurement has a great potential to strengthen the
renewal, quality and efficiency in healthcare and at the same time
have a positive impact at the innovativeness of the Swedish
corporates and in the end create a sustainable growth. By using
innovation and innovation friendly procurement as instruments for
problem solving and not restrict public procurement to existing
solutions can the demands from Region Skne actively drive
development of new goods and services and new processes.
One of Region Sknes vision is to be the most innovative region in
Europe 2020. In the budget for 2016 Region Skne states that
innovation and renewal is the most important topic in Europe. Actions
towards this vision is taken in close cooperation with the public
sector, the university in Skne, the idea-based sector and the private
sector. The goal is sustainable growth and higher employement rate

* Louise Strand has a bachelor of Laws and work as Director Strategic
Purchasing and Procurement at Region Skne.

in short and long term. The result of innovation and technology

development will also be higher quality and services within welfare.
Region Skne also states in the budget that innovation and
innovation friendly procurement are instruments for reaching the
vision of the most innovative region in Europe 2020.
Skne occupies a strategic location at the gateway to northern
Europe and has made a solid contribution to Swedish growth (OECD,
2012). Skne was particularly hard hit by the downturn, but made a
relatively quick recovery in 2009. Skne has not kept pace, neither
with growth in Stockholm and Vstra Gtaland, nor with the nation as
a whole, and lags behind not only the national average but also by the
average of Swedish regions. Regarding to OECD Skne has the lowest
employement rate in Sweden. Skne has distinguished itself as one
of the most innovative regions in the OECD. It has high educational
attainments overall and has, in the past decade, increasingly moved
into high-skilled sectors. The region is not yet realising its full
potential along a number of targets. Strong performance in
innovation is not on par with employment generation and growth. A
young and diverse labour force has struggled to find jobs
appropriately matched to their skills, and the region risks failing to
capitalise fully on large-scale investments, such as the Max IV and
ESS facilities for materials research, which are to be among the
largest research facilities in Europe.
OECD states that Skne can do more to use its innovation
strengths to enchange growth and employement generation and that
greater private sector involvement in the innovation system is
needed. OECD states that Skne can move from a top research and
technology hub towards a wealthy and inclusive innovative region.
OECD points out lack of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship and that
new firms remain small as two of the weaknesses in Sknes regional
innovation system. Skne depends on a few larger companies. OECD
points out that Skne need to promoting innovative entrepreneurship
and help translate ideas into sustainable businesses.

FIGURE 1

Innovation procurement area

INNOVATION PROCUREMENT AREA

By adressing the innovation procurement area as a triangle, see

figure 1, Innovation procurement area, it indicates that there are
three levels of innovation procurement regarding the innovativeness
and number of potential cases.
The top level, see figure 1, is procurement of innovation. This
level has the highest innovativeness but the smallest area which
indicates the lowest number of potential cases. When there are no
solution available we can procure a new solution to solve our problem
or challenge. The result is a new product or a new way of using an
existing product.
The third level, see figure 1, is the largest part of the triangel with
the highest number of potential cases. This level has the lowest
innovativeness innovation friendly procurement. Innovation friendly
procurement could be defined as to be open towards new products
and entrepreneurs. The result can be a new product. At this level we

have great potential to transform all our procurements in to

innovation friendly procurements.
The second level of the triangle, see figure 1, is strategic
innovation friendly procurement which is the middle segment both
regarding the number of cases and innovativeness. The result can,
but must not, be a new product.
Procurem ent of innovation
We have ambitions to procure innovation which is not a specific
method. There are several methods to choose between in order to
fulfill the goal for the procurement. The process to prioritize what to
invest in developing is complicated and the processes to accomplish
an innovation procurement is long, therefore the potential in
procurement of innovation is limited. We have recently procured an
innovation, environmental aprons, see Appendix.
Strategic innovation friendly procurement
We have completed some procurements that could be defined as
strategic innovation friendly. It has been some procurements with
large ambitions to make a transformation in an area, but however not
necessarily procure a new solution.
DISCUSSION

Innovation friendly procurement - definitions

There are different definitions for the term innovation friendly
procurement, but the definitions are quit similar. The implication is
being open towards new solutions or products.
The term is presented in the Swedish Government Official Report,
Innovation Procurement, SOU 2010:56. The term explains as when
the procurement is carried out in a way that new innovative solutions
is not excluded or disadvantaged. The most importent conclusion of
the report is that all public procurement should be innovation friendly
and contracting authorities should be more innovation friendly when
purchasing goods and services.
Regarding to Swedish Association of Local Authorities and
Regions innovation friendly procurement is about not excluding new
alternative solutions in the traditional public procurement. The
intention is to avoid purchase the same old by routine and instead
strive to purchase effective goods and services to the contracting

authority. Swedish Association of Local Authorities states in their

report, Innovationfriendly procurement experiences from local
authorities and regions, that it is important that public procurement
activiely stimulates the market.
A new authority established the 1st of September 2015 called the
National Agency for Public Procurement. The mission of the authority
is to support by developing and disseminate information, tools and
methods for public procurement. The goal for the agency is to develop
the good public transaction whith focus on sustainable, innovative
and effective public procurements and the authority has a special
mission to facilitate innovation friendly procurement. The National
Agency uses another term for innovation friendly procurement which
is develop facilitating procurement in their report, Innovation
Procurement develops your operation. The agency define develop
facilitating procurement as when contracting authorities are open
towards new solutions but does not demand new solutions. The
implication is the same as for innovation friendly procurement.
A proposal of a new wider definition
A new wider definition of the term innovation friendly
procurement; as to be open towards new solutions and new
entrepreneurs is preferable. By aiming to be open towards new
entrepreneurs the innovative solutions that they provide will be
included. Traditional way of procure have a tendency to reward
established larger suppliers and disfavour smaller suppliers and start
ups.
According to the swedish legislation for public procurement 10
chapter 1 the contracting authority must exclude a tenderer if
certain circumstances exists. In traditional way of procure the
contracting authority also has stated some other reasons for
excluding a tenderer.
By using the term new entrepreneurs both new as in a startup
and new as in a company that has not previously delivered goods or
services to us before are included.
It is of great importence to be open towards startups because
they develop more innovative solutions than older companies. There
are unfortunately a lot of companies that chooses not to attend public
procurement, especially among small and medium enterprises.
Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth found out in their
report, The enterprises participation in public procurement, 2015,

that only 14 % of the Swedish small and medium enterprises had

participated in a Swedish public procurement the last year, the larger
enterprise the more they had participated. The Swedish Agency asked
the 86 % of the small and medium enterprises that had not
participated about the reason for not participating. 64 % answered
that it was not relevant for the company, 17 % answered that they
find it too complicated, 15 % answered that it takes too long time to
tender, 11 % answered that the contracts are too large and 5 %
answered that they had other (unknown) reasons for not
participating. By using the wider definition we expand the scope for
innovative solutions.
By lower input thresholds in order to neutralize obstacles for
equal competition and to actively stimulate entrepeneurs to tender
the scope will expand even further.
METHODS, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND RESULTS

Structure
We, Region Sknes purchasing department has formed its
missions in a main and a development mission. The main mission is
to purchase goods and services that Region Skne needs with focus
on total costs and quality. The development mission is to contribute
in realizing Region Skne as the most innovative region in Europe
2020 by innovation procurement and innovation friendly
procurement.
The values for the purchasing department is commitment,
respect, cooperation and willingness to change which are chosen to
support our missions.
Some parts of the overall strategy is momentous in order to reach
our development mission. The heading of our strategy is that we have
focus on the business operation to be made and just track of the
legal parts. Public procurement in Sweden is more about follow the
law for public procurement than what business deals you can
achieve. Some other contracting authorities have focus on avoiding
appeals from the tenderers but we do not create procurement
documents in order to avoid appeals. We do not meassure how many
appeals we get and we do not have any goal to decrease the number
of appeals. Maybe we should have a goal to get more appeals
regarding trying new methods as confirmation of developing our
methods for procurement.

The overall strategy also points out innovation procurement and

innovation friendly procurement as a method for achieving great
business deals. To test new methods and develop public
procurement is another part of the strategy. To create innovation
frinedly procurement which are open for new entreprenurs and
solutions is also a part of our goals. All employees have their specific
goals to support the main goals for the department.
We have innovation frinedly procurement as a red thread
throughout our strategic documents and messages.
Transform ation
procurem ent

towards

an

innovation

friendly

We have started a transformation of changing towards an

innovation friendly procurement department. We work with different
kind of activities and methods but mainly it is about changing
mindset.
In order to succeed in innovation friendly procurement we need to
change our mindset in different ways, we have to be more curious for
instance about entrepreneurs and their conditions and we need to
have courage to try new methods and to decrease the detailed
requirements on our suppliers and the goods and services we
procure.
Charles Edquist (2014, p 39) states It is obvious that it is easier
and lower risk in traditional procurement than in innovationrelated
procurement. This applies for both contracting authorities and
employees. Risk aversion within decision makers and contracting
authorities reduces the tendency to innovationrelated procurement.
We as leaders must not criticize when new methods is not
successful or when verdicts is against us, you have to feel secure and
have supportive leaders in order to be courageous.
We also have to have endurance in our mission because
transformations is a longterm change and the processess for public
procurement are also long which extends the transformation.
The suppliers also need to change their mindset in to be more
open towards new ways to make business, they need to be more
interested in our needs and how to fulfill them and they also need to
be more open towards developing as partners during the agreement
period. Some of the larger companies in Sweden are open and
welcome startups as subcontractors wich is very positive.

Our internal clients in Region Skne also need to change their

mindset. We always work together with representatives from different
parts of Region Skne when we procure, some of them are very open
towards new entrepreneurs and solutions but most of them show risk
aversion, they know how the product they have been using for a long
time work and they are not willing to try new products or change their
working processes.
We need to be creative and innovative in developing new
methods and activities in order to be more innovation friendly. Our
role is to be innovative in order to create optimal conditions for the
suppliers to develop innovative solutions but it is important not to get
too involved in what kind of innovative solutions that would fulfill our
needs. The risk is that we describe that innovative solution in details
and then we are not open to new solutions and not innovation
friendly.
We need to understand more about entrepreneurs, their
conditions and what obstacles there are for them to tender or win a
public procurement. By this awareness we are able to develop new
methods and stimulate more entrepreneurs in participating in public
procurement.
We have been working together with an experienced business
advisor who support start ups to develop and grow. She have had a
serie of workshops together with us, aiming to open up our traditional
procurements in to innovation friendly. We got a lot of interesting
discussions about entrepreneurs conditions which helped us to
increase our understanding which lead to refining our methods.
We have invited some entrepreneurs to describe how they have
started companies, developed services and goods and what
challenges they experienced. By interacting with entrepreneurs we
are able to elaborate our methods.
Activities
A thorough market analysis is important to get knowledge that we
need to be able to create a specific innovation friendly procurement.
We try to get information about possible suppliers, both established
and startups, we gather information about their capacity. We also try
to get information about available solutions and solutions that are
developing. We also try to search nearby markets for interesting
solutions which can transform to solutions for our needs.

We form cross-functional teams with colleauges from different

parts of Region Skne, a team with different kind of competence has
a larger ability to analyze our needs and possibilities with different
perspectives.
We use a washing machine as a metaphore, by imagine puting in
old traditional procurement documents in to a washing machine and
take out innovation friendly procurement documents. There are a
great potential in developing and simplifying the procurement
documents. We try to transform the language in to less formal and
bureaucratic and to decrease the detailed requirements. We set up
requirements about the supplier and about the services or goods they
offer in the tender. We try to challenge every requirement, for
instance that the supplier have to have a previous experience in
delivering to the public sector which excludes a lot of entrepreneurs.
Next question is when the requirement must be fulfilled, we usually
demand that the tenderer must evidence that the requirement is
fulfilled when tender. By allowing the requirement to be fulfilled when
the agreement period starts, a specific date during the agreement
period or a gradual fulfilment more companies are included. We can
also influence companies in certain areas for instance we can induce
more companies to get environmental certified if we allow suppliers
to get certified two years after the agreement period starts.
We need to lower input thresholds in order to neutralize obstacles
for equal competition. Traditionaly procurement have a tendency to
reward established suppliers and there are an untapped potential by
opening up towards new entrepreneurs. By being innovation friendly
the competition will increase.
The larger established suppliers have professional bid managers
whith great experience in tendering and there is small entrepreneurs
who have no experience and hardly any administrative support. We
have invited to tenderschools when our market analysis shows that
there are companies in the specific market which has no or limited
experience in tendering. We inform about public procurement and
how to tender. We also give them tips about how to learn more like
reading procurement documents and tenders from competitors which
are public in Sweden. We have also invited to a short education in the
electronic tenderingsystem that we use. We invite startups to
seminars to do business with Region Skne, see Appendix, case
chiropody.
In order to make the process of tendering as easy as possible we
have reduceed the number of documents that the tenderer need to

attach and it is often enough to provide the required documents upon

request. Another incitament for us to reduce the costs for the
tenderingprocess is that we as a customer in the long term are paying
for the suppliers marketing costs which includes tenderingprocesses.
Some entrepreneurs have not enough capacity to deliver Region
Sknes need of services and goods, either the entrepreneur does not
have possibilities to deliver the amount that we need or the variety of
the services or goods that we need. The information in the market
analysis is vital for us in order to know when and how we should
divide the specific contract. We also try to open up for use of
subcontractors which can be a start for an entrepreneur in deliver to
Region Skne and there is also possibilities for smaller entrepreneurs
to tender together.
What criteria we use for assigning contract is of great importance
in order to be innovation friendly. Larger and more estabished
companies will be favored if we let price be the most important critera
for assigning contract, we are more innovation friendly when we
decide the price and let the quality be the only criteria. Larger and
more established suppliers often have a fulltime bidmanager who is
an expert on tendering, they have an advantage in written tenders. By
using a verbal part of tender evaluation we neutralize the
competition.
We tried different kind of payment models with good result, pay
per performance is a model that is innovation friendly. We have used
the model when purchasing pharmaceuticals that have been
approved from the authorities but not yet used in a larger scale. It
was in the suppliers interest to get more data of the effect of the drug
and we lowered our risk by only paying when the drug had eligible
effect.
By purchasing function instead of purchasing detailed desribed
goods or services we are more open towards new solution. When
purchasing function we describe our needs and often a goal that we
want to achieve by the purchase but we do not describe a preferred
solution, the supplier has an opportunity to tender a new product that
will fulfill our needs in a much better way. In more traditional
procurement we often put a detailed description of the product that
we already use and are not open towards new solutions. We try to
develop in this method see Appendix cases about mammography and
ambulance services.

Pay per use is a model for paying for a function instead of

purchasing a machine and consumables separately, the model also
opens up for new solutions.
The length of the agreement varies from two years up to twelve
years, there are a potential in opening up towards development
during that time also. We formulate agreements that allows
development during the agreement period for instance to replace old
products with new technique. We also try to create incitaments for
the supplier to develop during the agreement period see Appendix
case mammography. A contract that enable us purchasing new
products to examine during the agreement period see Appendix case
CPAP. We tried a model with one main supplier that provides all the
different products within a specific field regardless producer which
enable new entrepreneurs to deliver new products during the
agreement period see Appendix case bandage.
FIGURE 2

Dialogue process

Dialogue
Dialogue or interaction with different kind of acteurs in the
market is essential to be innovation frinedly. Whitout dialogue there

will not be any innovation therefore dialogue is an important part in

our strategy for the procurement department. All dialogue which fulfill
the principles and is not prohibited in the legislation for public
procurement are allowed. We use different kind of dialogue activites
in our procurement today. But for sure we will develop new methods
to interact further on. Since dialogue is important we have made a
specific process, se figure 2, which originates from our process for
public procurement.
By dialogue we get a good knowledge about the market and what
enterprises is operating in the market and what kind of solutions they
offer. We also try to get information about new trends and what
solutions that is developing, we try to look in to other markets aiming
to find solutions which could be transferred. By dialogue we get a lot
of in-put from entrepreneurs about our needs and optimal strategy for
us to procure, some of this in-put is of great value for us but some of
it is more of marketing for the enterprise and we have to identify the
in-put in these matters. By dialogue we also stimulates enterprises to
tender in our specific procurements and then the dialogue is
increasing the competition which leads to better deals for us. Since
the tenderer get a better understanding of our needs by the dialogue
the quality of the tenders is improving. By inviting potential suppliers
to dialogue we increase the transparency and improving long term
relations with enterprises.
We have dialogue in different phases of the procurement
processes, before, during and after the specific procurement, se
figure 2. We also have dialogue without connection to a specific
procurement. We have a lot of opportunities to use dialogue and even
if we find the effect of dialogue very high we do not have infinitely
resources so we need to use dialogue effectively - the more strategic
objective the more dialogue we use. We try to choose the form for
dialogue that will get the highest effect regarding the objective.
Dialogue before the procurement
RFI Request for information is a written way of dialogue when
companies are answering a large number of written questions
regarding the company and its capacity, their products and technical
specifications. We publish the document on our webpage openly for
everybody to reply and we also send the link to the enterprises that
we are aware of. By using RFI we get valuable information that we use
when creating a market analys.

Verbal dialogue enables interaction. There are different kind of

methods but the essential is that purchaser and potential suppliers
meet each other. Sometimes we also invites representatives from the
department that is going to use the products. We have tried different
kind of meetings and are trying to design meetings that maximize the
effect due to the objective. We have arranged seminars that includes
lectures regarding the objective see Appendix case apron. We also
tried to stimulate the participants to interact with eachother in order
to start some kind of collaboration when we are looking for a solution
or concept that is not yet available. We try meeting forms that fulfill
the participants needs in order to increase the number of competitive
tenders. Some markets is characterized by low experience in
tendering. We have arranged meetings that contained basic
information about public procurement and how to tender. One time
we also invited the contractor of our electronic system for tendering
to give an introduction in placing a tender in the system. That specific
meeting resulted in 93 contracts see Appendix case chiropody.
A frequently used meeting form is hearings; we publish an open
invitation on our webpage and send a specific invitation to the
enterprises that we know about., the meeting starts with a part for all
participants when we present the objective for the procurement and
the goal with the procurement, the participants are welcome to ask
questions but the entrepreneurs is usually not so eager in to discuss
possibilities when their competitours are in the same room therefor
the second part of the meeting is a private meeting with the
purchaser.
The most common meeting form is a plain meeting between
buyers and potential suppliers.
Since a couple of years we are using a new form for interaction
called external consultation; we publish a draft of the procurement
documents on our webpage and give enterprises and other interested
organisations or experts the opportunity to comment on the
documents. We study the comments that has been made and choose
in what extent we change our procurement documents. The amount
of comments has a great spread from just one up to as many as
twenty responses. The quality of the comments also varies a lot.
When we procured windmills we got twenty pages from one
respondent which was very generously of the respondent. This form
of dialogue are very useful, we get a lot of interesting comments that
helps us to improve our procurement documents substantially. We
also get a last check weather our demands will be a holdback for new

entrepreneurs and solutions and then we have a possibility to change

the documents before the procurement starts formally. To start with
getting information about the market and available solutions by using
RFI and then discuss possibilities with several enterprises gives a
good ability to produce procurement documents that is open towards
new entrepreneurs and solutions. It is businesslike to present the
draft of procurement documents for the enterprises that has been
contributing in the process and let them comment before finalizing
them.
Dialogue before the procurement is essential in order to be
innovation friendly, see Appendix case Yalla Trappan.
Dialogue during the Procurement
This phase is characterizing with low grade of interaction but
there is a potential in increasing interaction. The restrictiveness is
due to the risk of act against the principles of equal treatment of the
tenderer.
During this phase potential suppliers can send in written
questions in the electronic system and the purchaser then publish
the anonymized question and an answer in the system to everybody
who has been registrered in the specific procurement. The purchaser
will answer questions that has been sent in before a specific date
which is stated in the procurement documents.
In some procurements we invite the tenderer to present their
tender to us purchasers at a physical meeting. We usually do that if
the procurement is technical complicated and is not an opportunity to
negotiate.
When purchasing consultants a verbal part of tender evaluation
as an interview or a role play is preferable in order to neutralize
competition barriers due to differences in knowledge about
procurement and the tenderprocess. When purchasing different kind
of products we often test the products but it could be interesting to
develop other forms for verbal evaluation.
By using an external consultation between evaluation an the
award decision we increase the transparency and are more
businesslike. It is also a quality check of the documents before taking
the award decision.

Dialogue after the Procurement

After the award decision has been made we sometimes invite the
tenderer for a meeting, vendor debriefing. The purpose for the
meeting is to get feed-back about how we can improve our process
and be more innovation friendly. We also try to present some feedback about the tenders to help them to improve.
It is also important to have a continuous good dialogue during the
agreement period. Focus on this phase for dialogue is to follow up on
the contract and to develop the cooperation or services and goods.
Dialogue without Connection to a Specific Procurement
We get most out of the dialogue when it has not a connection to a
specific procurement since the entrepreneur is totally free of mind.
We are able to have open discussions about strategic topics like new
methods to create partnerships and new solutions that entrepreneurs
are developing. There is not a specific model or method for this kind
of dialogue but we are trying to develop an effective method.
Region Skne took a political decision to establish an advisory
board for strategic procurement. The board should act as an engine
for strategic procurement in Region Skne and have innovation as
one of their topics. We have chosen boardmembers from different
context, there are representitives from larger and smaller companies,
lawfirm, university, unions, idea-based sector and some public
organisations. The board has 16 members who are chosen mainly for
their personal qualifications.
We arrange seminars called To do business with Region Skne.
By these events we hope to stimulate entrepreneurs which has not
yet participated in our procurements. We also try to spread positiv
information about public procurement. By meeting these
entrepreneurs we also try to understand what obstacles the
entrepreneurs are experiencing when tendering, this knowledge help
us to be more innovation friendly.
The agenda for the seminar To do business with Region Skne
is:
Information about Region Skne and the departement for
procurement
The plan for competitions during the year

 Our strategy for procurement including our ambitions towards

innovation friendlyness
Information about public procurement and how to tender
Dialogue with the participants
Strategic supplier day is another method for dialogue when we
invite five companies that can contribute with strategic perspectives
in our ambition to develop Region Skne and improve our way to
procure. We invite representatives from different parts of Region
Skne to participate and give each company one hour with a specific
agenda. Last time we had this agenda:
Presentation of the company
The company plan for develpment
The market and trends
Future forms for partnerships with organizations like Region
Skne
Environmental initiatives
The companies that we have invited has been very pleased for
this opportunity, to quote one of the company that participated:
The meeting was effective with a short introduction from you and
then we got the opportunity to present our material. The participants
showed great interest and we had a positive dialogue that was
contributing for both parties.
We are going to arrange new strategic supplier days and are
trying to refine our selection process for which company to invite and
the agenda for the meeting.
We are also going on field trips visiting entrepreneurs on our own
or together with colleagues from other regions of Sweden. By visiting
entrepreneurs we get a deeper insight in the company and get the
opportunity to visit their development department and meet more of
their employees.
Together with our colleagues from other regions of Sweden, we
arrange a conference with the large business organization, Swedish
Medtech. Both suppliers and purchasers are participating at the

conference. This is also a good way of having a dialogue without

connection to a specific procurement.
A lot of entrepreneurs are contacting Region Skne and ask for a
meeting to present their new product or business idea and the
meetings are prioritized due to other planned activities.
Open towards Non-profit Organizations
To be truly innovation friendly we need to be open towards nonprofit organizations as suppliers. We are cooperating with the ideabased sector aiming for increasing opportunities for non-profit
organizations to deliver goods or services to Region Skne. The nonprofit organizations is often able to offer some added value which
companies in the private sector is not able to. We can cooperate with
the organization direct, see Appendix case Yalla Trappan or with the
organizations as a subcontractor, see Appendix case Conference. By
cooperate with the idea-based sector we also learn more about what
obstacles they experience in tendering that we can use to increase
our innovation friendlyness. The sector is also generous with its point
of view on developing public procurement.
The definition for the idea-based sector is: The idea-based sector
includes organized associations which is based on democratic values
and contributes to public or members interest. The associations are
independent vis-a-vis the public sector and acts in non-profit
organizations.
The Swedish Government decided on an agreement between the
Government, the idea-based organizations in the social sphere and
the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions in October
2008. The Government states the intention to work for free
competition to enable the idea-based organizations to compete on
equal terms with other players in the social sphere and in health and
medical care. The first regional agreement on the same topic was
decided between Region Skne and the Network for idea-based
sector in Skne in 2010. One of the planned actions stated in the
agreement was to increase the knowledge about public procurement
in order to increase the possibilities for the idea-based sector to
contribute to diversity and alternative in providing services.
It states in our procurement policy that we should increase the
posssibilities for the non-profit organizations to compete in our
procurements. By being innovation friendly we increase the
possibilities for both the idea-based sector and new entrepreneurs.

We cooperate closely with the Network for idea-based sector in

Skne, we invite the Network and their members to seminars like To
do business with Region Skne. Twice a year we are invited to
participate at their members meeting to inform about public
procurement and we start each year with presenting the plan for
procurements of the year. The Network discuss with their members
about which services they are interested in delivering to Region
Skne and then we invite to a specific dialogue regarding those
areas.
Our transformation into innovation friendly procurement have just
started. We are planning new activities and steps towards our goal to
be open towards new solutions and new entrepreneurs.

REFERENCES

Edquist, C. (2014). Public Procurement and Innovation. (Research

Report 2014:5), Lund, Sweden: Competition Authority.
Local Authorities and Regions, (2012). Innovation Friendly
Procurement Experiences From Local Authorities And Regions.
[On-line]. Available at www.skl.se. [Retrived February 1, 2016].
OECD (2012) Territoral Reviews: Skne, Sweden. Paris, France:
OECD.
Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth. (2015). The
Enterprises Participation In Public Procurement. [On-line].
Available at www.tillvaxtverket.se. [Retrived February 1, 2016].
Swedish Government Official Report, (2010). Innovation
Procurement, SOU 2010:56. Swedish Government Offices. [Online]. Available at www.sou.gov.se. [Retrived February 1, 2016]
The National Agency for Public Procurement, (2015). Innovation
Procurement Develops Your Operation. [On-line]. Available at
www.upphandlingsmyndigheten.se. [Retrived February 1, 2016].

APPENDIX

Case Descriptions
Case No 1, Environm ental Aprons
Region Skne has a goal to be fossil-free in year 2020. Region
Skne uses 5 million aprons each year which is made of plastic, in
100% fossil-based material. We have procured an innovation by
asking for an environmental apron which resulted in an apron that is
91 % made of fossil-free material. The process was innovative which
started with a seminar with lectures about innovation procurement
and new material. During this first dialogue the participating potential
suppliers stated that it will not be possible to produce an
environmental apron. We hired an industrial designer who showed a
possible design and we had a panel of nurses who tried out aprons at
the hospital. We hired a consultant to evaluate the climate impact.
We also had an coaching negotiation process when we were able to
influence the tenderer in to improve their product in several criterias.
The result is not just more environmental aprons it will also
strengthen Skne with more employments in the area since the
winning company will produce the aprons in a new factory in Skne.

Case No 2, Chiropody
Region Skne needed medical chiropody for patients with severe
foot problems caused by diabetics for instance and the goal was to
provide chiropody close to all citizens in the area of Skne. We
started with a market analysis and found out that there are many
micro enterprises who provides chiropody whith low computer skills.
We invited potential suppliers to a meeting by advertisements in the
daily press and started the meeting with a tenderschool and a short
education in the electronic tenderingsystem that we use. The
purchaser diveded the contract in to 100 geographic parts and wrote
the procurement documents in easier language with a better layout.
The tenderer did not have to send in any documents and we decided
the price and let the quality be the only criteria for assigning contract.
The result was 93 micro enterprises who won a contract with Region
Skne.
Case No 3, Comestibles
When Region Skne needed comestibles to the hospitals for their
kitchen the purchaser started with a thorough market analysis. After

a survey of the local producers it was clear that they lack capacity to
deliver our full need for comestibles, they had neither enough amount
neither the variety of the comestibles that we needed. The purchaser
therefore analyzed their capacity and mapped the capacity with
different hospitals need which resulted in seven smaller contracts
and one larger contract. The larger suppliers had no interest in the
smaller contracts. We signed contract with seven smaller local
producers that deliver freshbaked bread, icecream, organic egg and
meat to different hospitals around the area of Skne.
Case No 4, Am bulance Services
Region Skne needed ambulance services for the citizens in the
area of Skne with the primary goal to increase the availability. In the
previous contract we had stated the exact location for all the
ambulance vehicles. In order to increase the availability we tried to
stimulate the creativity and competence within the potential suppliers
and asked for a solution for increasing the availability. The goal was
to reach 90 % of the citizens in the area of Skne within 20 minutes.
The potential suppliers suggested solutions which was better and
more flexibel then the previous contract.

Case No 5, M am m ography
When Region Skne needed mammography as a service for the
citizens we formulated a goal Instead of describing the service in
detailes. The goal was that 85 % of the target group was examined,
an important goal since breastcancer is the most common form of
cancer and early detection is crucial. The tenderer was asked to
describe their method for increasing the number of examined and the
method was evaluated and together with the price determined the
assignment of the contract. By evaluating the method we stimulated
the tenderer to use their competence and creativity in to develop a
new improved service. We formulated an expectation and possibility
in the contract for developing the service during the agreement
period with a monetary compensation.
Case No 6, CPAP - Continuous Positive Airway Pressure
Region Skne needed equipment for sleep apnea (CPAP
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) at the patients home. Through
the market analysis we found out that there are new technology
developing that supports remote monitoring. To enable examining

new technology the purchaser stated in the contract that Region

Skne reserves the right of purchasing equipment that supports
remote monitoring regardless supplier, equipment for examination is
excluded the contract.
Case No 7, Bandage
Region Skne needed products for treating wounds to the
hospitals. Region Skne had contracts with 10 suppliers with
different kind of products. By analysing the situation the purchaser
found problems regarding knowledge about optimal product for each
type of wound. The consequence was overuse of advanced expensive
products. Instead of a detailed description of each product the
purchaser formulated a function that we needed; The supplier
should fulfill Region Sknes need for products to support an effective
treatments of wounds. In order to ensure high quality and avoid a
price pressure the purchaser stated the lowest and highest prices.
The winning supplier delivers a service, among other services they
deliver the assortment of products that we need no matter producer.
To make sure that the assortment will fulfill our needs during the
agreement period a Product Council has established. The council
consists of the purchaser, representatives from the hospitals and the
supplier. This also enables new entrepreneurs to deliver new
products to us as a subcontractor at any time of the agreement
period.
Case No 8, Yalla Trappan
Region Skne needed catering to external meetings in the office
in Malm with 600 potential clients who will order breakfast, lunch
and coffee and cookie (swedish fika) in the afternoon. A lot of micro
enterprises and organizations were potential suppliers due to the
market analysis. The purchaser invited them to a meeting which
started with a tenderschool and then a dialogue about the specific
procurement. The entrepreneurs had a lot of interesting in-put which
inspired the purchaser to divide the contract in to two smaller parts
and to write the procurement documents in easier language and a
better layout. The tenderer did not have to to send in any documents,
we decided the price and let the quality be the only criteria for
assigning contract. Since it was catering we purchased we let a jury
taste and pass judgement on the food. Yalla Trappan won the
contract because they had the food that tastes the best best
quality. Yalla Trappan is a work integration social enterprise, a nonprofit organization with a general aim to provide work for immigrant

women who would otherwise have severe difficulties entering the

labor market.
Case No 9, Conference
Region Skne is a large organization and need a lot of conference
rooms for different kind of meetings during office hours. A lot of nonprofit organizations has meeting rooms and clubhouses that they only
use during weekends and evenings. We needed to purchase a large
professional conference provider but the purchaser stated in the
procurement document that the provider should enable non-profit
organizations to be subcontractor and deliver conference rooms. 20
non-profit organizations are now trying out the concept, providing
conference rooms. As employees of Region Skne we have the
possibility to have a meeting in another kind of environment that will
add value to the meeting and more priceworthy at the same time.
But above all we contribute to strengthen the non-profit
organizations.
The idea arose during a dialogue between Region Skne and the
Network for idea-based sector in Skne discussing the plan for
procurements of the year.