GFZ Purchasing is awarded the silver certificate of the Competence Center Innovative Procurement KOINNO of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy.

In a three-stage program, public clients can have themselves certified by KOINNO as an innovative procurement institution. The GFZ's procurement and purchasing department successfully completed the first stage of the certification process in March 2020 with the award of the bronze certificate. This was done by answering an online questionnaire. In a second step, the innovative ability of the GFZ procurement department was now checked via a personal audit by KOINNO. This was followed by a workshop to discuss further recommendations for action. GFZ successfully passed the audit and has now been awarded the silver certificate.

"In accordance with our understanding of innovative public procurement, the GFZ's purchasing department has created a good framework for innovative public procurement with various measures," explains Judith Richard, Project Manager of KOINNO. "For example, a procurement strategy was developed for the orientation of purchasing, which includes the objective of promoting innovation in the market. At the product group level, the objectives contained in the procurement strategy are further operationalized with the help of product group strategies".

Peter Grunenberg, Head of Purchasing at GFZ: "It was important for me to acknowledge the fantastic work of the team and to encourage my colleagues to continue to try new approaches in procurement. The certification by KOINNO has shown that we are on the right track to continuously bring more innovation into our procurement".

The Chairman of the GFZ Executive Board, Reinhard Hüttl, is pleased about the award: "On the one hand, the certification recognizes the team's dedicated work, on the other hand it has also given us new impulses for further development.” The executive board is very aware of the value of a powerful purchasing organisation.

In a third test step, the gold certificate can now be acquired by demonstrating an innovative approach in a practical example. (ak)

Further information:

• News by Competence Center Innovative Procurement
• Information on certification