The European Health Public Procurement Alliance
An alliance of public and non-profit group procurement organisations (GPOs) specialised in the health & care sector which aims to pool expertise, leverage performance and provide its members with a strategic position in the European market.
The European Health Public Procurement Alliance (EHPPA) association was created in 2012 by Resah (Fr) & NHSCS (UK) during the execution of the European project called HAPPI (Healthy Ageing - Public Procurement of Innovation), which seeked to establish the conditions for health institutions throughout Europe to implement a joint cross-border procurement of innovative solutions. Today the association is composed by 12 GPOs from 10 different European countries.
EHPPA is a registered non-profit association under French law and has its headquarters in Paris.
EHPPA’s primary purpose is to facilitate the cooperation and exchange of information between its members to improve their procurement performance and to gain a competitive advantage in their own countries. As our member organisations act on regional or national level, we can engage in international collaboration without being direct competitors.
OBJECTIVES
The strategic topics for 2021 – 2023 period have been distributed between the Board representatives who will further develop these initiatives in the 2 coming years.
Firstly, all EHPPA organisations have a strong interest to work on security of supplies in the context of recent events. The Covid-19 pandemic and the armed conflict in Ukraine have demonstrated the importance of European collaboration in public procurement and especially the need for sovereignty and security of supply chains. This subject requires internal exchange of knowledge and information but also dialogue with the industry and other institutions such as the new European agency HE
A lot of importance is also given to European tender work and to overviewing the preparation of new legislation which will determine the future of public procurement in Europe. This involves a continuous communication with European institutions and an alignment of the vision from our members into one joint statement and common goal to be achieved.
he third focus area is innovation, which englobes all internal aspects such as training, study visits across Europe or external initiatives like participation to European projects, supported and funded by the European Commission. The objective of this mandate is to define strategies to encourage the culture of innovation within EHPPA organisations and dynamise the participation of the members to promote innovative projects: public procurement of innovation, co-creation projects or implementation of innovative procurement practices like Value-Based Procurement.
Lastly, the external relationships of EHPPA needs to be reinforced and developed. In addition to our strategic partners, the association is regularly in contact with other institutions such as the EIC (European Innovation Council), Directorates of the European Commission, EUHA (European University Hospital Association), HOPE (European Hospital and Healthcare Federation) and other key European stakeholders. EHPPA wants to strengthen its position as THE European network of public procurers and main expert on public procurement for the European institutions and other stakeholders of the healthcare sector. EHPPA also works on its attractivity in order to include new member states, especially from Baltic and Eastern regions.
ACTIVITIES
1.Exchange of knowledge and procurement good practices
One of the arguments for EHPPA creation was the necessity to exchange information on public procurement trends and development within the member countries as well as to be aware of what is happening all over Europe. Our members have the opportunity to do so during the General assemblies organised every 6 months, and in the meantime through emails or group chats. They can also engage in bilateral or group collaboration on a specific topic.
2.Organisation of a European event on healthcare procurement
The 1st Pan-European Healthcare Procurement Summit co-organised with Health Proc Europe Association will take place on 20th and 21st September in Brussels.
Click here for more information on the event.
3.Set up of the framework and realisation of a joint cross-border procurement pilot project
Joint cross-border procurement has an importance for the association as it has been the main topic of the European project HAPPI that led to the creation of EHPPA in 2012.
In this context, one of the current activities is the establishment of a clear framework for joint procurement projects. This work has been launched under the previous presidency and continues during the new mandate. 2022 should be the year when a pilot joint cross-border procurement on overshoes takes place.
4.Set up of discussion and working groups based on the focus topics
With the goal to involve more and more collaborators in EHPPA activities, discussion groups on different topics are created in Teams environment. These cover for example innovation or legal aspects and allow to have quick feedback on the topic from the perspective of different countries and regions. In the context of recent events, a new working group has been designed on the theme of securing supplies, involving procurement and logistics experts from our member organisations. Additional groups can and will be generated, for instance for the development of a European project proposal.
5.Communication activities and representation of EHPPA
With the purpose of developing external relationships and strengthening the position of EHPPA in the European healthcare procurement ecosystem, our members engage in the following initiatives: participation to open dialogues and consultations from the European Commission, participation to European projects, presentation of the association during various events and conferences and other activities that brings visibility to the association.
For more information on the EHPPA Click here