Create an Action Plan
Create an Action Plan

Create an Action Plan

Communicating your first steps in an SPP Action Plan

Throughout this first section of the toolkit, we have gone through some of the key approaches you can take when considering Open SPP implementation. We have shown how to assess the current enabling environment, how to prioritize procurement categories, set specific SPP goals effectively to track progress, and what you can do to build capabilities and facilitate implementation.

In each of these sections, we have explained the importance of openly communicating your chosen SPP approaches, the reasons behind your decision, and how these will be implemented. An SPP Action Plan is the key way to bring all this together.

Having an SPP Action Plan will allow you to communicate to procurement practitioners what the current framework for implementing SPP is, what this means for them, and what actions will be taken to further adapt this framework.

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In this section we provide examples of how you can use your SPP Action Plan to communicate the steps you have taken to assess and establish a successful framework for SPP implementation. It can serve as reference for procurement practitioners to understand what is compliant, and what is not, as well as to ensure standardization, accountability, and continuity regardless of institutional leadership changes.

What you can include in an SPP Action Plan

For guidance regarding how to structure that plan, it can be useful to refer to the following Sample Action Plan created by UNEP, which you can access here:

Sample outline of an SPP Action PlanSample outline of an SPP Action Plan

Key Open SPP elements to include in your Action Plan

We have identified the key steps that you can take when getting started with Open SPP. Below we explain how you can communicate this in your Action Plan, and provide examples of how this has been done by public authorities across the world.

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Enabling environment
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Prioritized procurement categories
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Monitoring and evaluation
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Capacity building plan

As well as presenting chosen SPP approaches, it is important to clearly communicate who will be responsible for the established SPP approaches, as well as the budget that will be allocated to carry these out:

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Governance structure and responsibilities
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Assigned budget

Consider how your Action Plan will evolve

Action Plans are often published every 3 to 5 years, although they can be reviewed and updated yearly if needed to measure progress against objectives and targets. When designing your first Open SPP Action Plan, it is important to also consider what is the current scope and ambition of Open SPP practices, and how these will evolve in the future. The aspects extracted from page 87 of the World Bank’s GPP Handbook, can be useful when considering the scope and ambition of your Open SPP Action Plan:

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Institutional coverage
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Procurement categories
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Environmental criteria
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Remember, the ultimate goal is for sustainable procurement practices to be mainstreamed in public procurement. This means that, eventually, an SPP Action Plan will not be needed because sustainability will be automatically embedded in any plan regarding public procurement.