Finland at the forefront of innovative procurement policy measures - KEINO as an example of a good operating model

The European Commission organized a webinar on October 12th 2020 to present its study SMART 016/0040 on the national policy frameworks for innovation procurement and the national investments on public procurement of innovative solutions (PPI) across 30 European countries. To assess the maturity and performance of national policy frameworks, a methodology of benchmarking 10 indicators and their sub-indicators was developed and applied. The figure on the right shows an indicator-by-indicator comparison of Finland compared to the average of all countries.

According to the study, Finland's strengths lie in a comprehensive set of policy measures. Finland's score on all ten indicator areas varies between 60% and 100%. The average of the 30 countries included in the study was ~ 27%, while Finland averaged at ~ 67%.  Finland is also the only country in the group defined as ‘strong performers*. The next highest group of ‘good performers’ include Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Estonia, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Finland's vantage points are the network based Competence Centre for Sustainable and Innovative Public Procurement (KEINO) as the main operative body in the support of procurers in the implementation of innovation procurement as well as, the national action plan for innovative public procurement and a quantitative target for innovative public procurement. KEINO was mentioned as a good example of national competence center operation, and the fact that it consists of a diverse group of actors was considered an explicit strength.

However, there is also room for improvement. The strategic importance of innovative public procurement is not yet recognized in all areas of the public sector or cross-cutting policies in Finland. There is also room for improvement in the structural monitoring system still being set up, capacity building and assistance measures and use of value for money award criteria still to be mainstreamed.

The study also includes calculations and comparisons of the total number of innovative procurements by country, sector and different types of innovative procurements. Even in those comparisons, Finland is doing well. The exception is research and development (R&D) procurement, in which Finland is below the European average.

In addition to the country comparison report, a description of the evaluation methodology and country reports can be found on the Commission's website:

Benchmarking of national innovation procurement investments and policy frameworks across Europe