# Green Public Procurement at a Regional Level.
## 2 Background and Previous Findings
One of the most significant results is that countries belonging to the 'Green 7' group in the 2006 study--Germany, Great Britain, Sweden or Denmark--presented much worse values. Between 2003 and 2005, [PERSON] et al. [40] studied a sample of tenders in Denmark, Finland and Sweden. A total of 335 sheets were analysed, 155 in 2003, and 180 in 2005. An analysis of the content of the contract documents was carried out and all the environmental criteria in the documents was recorded. In Finland, 28% of procedures with environmental criteria were registered in 2003 and 57% in 2005; in Sweden, 60% in 2003 and 80% in 2005; and in Denmark 60% in both years. The environmental aspects of products included in the public procurement process were classified according to the CPV (common procurement vocabulary) and three blocks were distinguished: high, medium, and low. In the so-called 'high' group, products were defined as those related to paper and pulp, printing materials, and articles for printing, computers, and computer equipment, etc. The'middle' group included products related to agriculture, clothing, and textiles, furniture, construction, repair and maintenance of installations. The 'low' group mainly comprised of cultural and sporting products, postal services, engineering and architectural services, and water transport services. The authors also noted the difference between 'environmental criteria' and 'well-defined environmental criteria', calling a 'well-defined environmental criterion' as one for which the purchasing authority has given the information on how a criterion must be fulfilled and verified. [PERSON] and [PERSON] [29] studied green procurement in Sweden in 2004, analysing a sample of 558 public authorities. As a result, they identified several constraints on the implementation of GPP: The high cost of sometimes green products; the lack of administrative resources and adequate environmental expertise; and possible complaints from unsuccessful bidders about insufficiently well-defined criteria. In a similar way, but for municipalities in Tuscany (Italy), [PERSON] et al. [2] concluded that it is necessary to develop successful strategies, well-trained staff, and to have guidelines and tools for GPP. [PERSON] et al. [41] examined the use of GPP in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark in 2005. They found that almost one-third of the tenders contained environmental criteria with an average weight of 3.3%. [PERSON] et al. [42] studied green procurement practices at local and regional levels in Norway in 2007. The results showed that GPP is much more established in large municipalities than in small ones, with more resources available to establish a purchasing department with greater knowledge and selection criteria. For the Norwegian ICT (information and communication technology) sector, [PERSON] et al. [43], observed that environmental criteria were the third most frequent award criterion after price and quality, but with a lower weight than the others. In an econometric analysis, [PERSON] et al. [44] analysed the factors influencing the adoption of GPP practices on authorities from municipalities and provinces in three Italian regions (Lazio, Liguria, and Emilia Romagna). Data was collected from 156 public authorities by telephone interview using a questionnaire of 15 points distributed into sections regarding public authority, awareness on environmental issues at strategic level, and measurement of public 'green initiatives' towards citizens and markets.