Municipality of The Hague winner MKB INFRA AanbestedingsAward 2019

The MKB INFRA AanbestedingsAward 2019 has been won by the municipality of The Hague. According to the jury, this municipality is the most SME-friendly tenderer of infrastructural works. Jury chairman René Fronik sees a high degree of professionalism at this client, enshrined in carefully developed and sound procurement policies. Issues such as legitimacy and efficiency are well addressed in the policy and are also put into practice, and SMEs are not only given good opportunities, but are actually involved in the dialogue. New developments in the procurement market, such as the manual on tender costs, are also taken up immediately. The procurement policy of the municipality of The Hague is not only professional and up to date, but also breathes the Market Vision. The market, according to The Hague's motto, is what we are together, which the jury wholeheartedly endorses. The Hague has also seriously addressed and adjusted the previous points of attention, in the jury assessment in 2017, in the procurement policy. From the hands of Alderman Jurgen van Houdt of Enschede (winner in 2017) and jury chairman Fronik, the municipality of The Hague received the infrastructure statuette and the certificate 'winner of the MKB INFRA AanbestedingsAward 2019' this afternoon at an MKB INFRA meeting in Rotterdam.

The jury further found that all three finalists it has nominated - this time three municipalities; Almere, The Hague and Raalte - meet the condition of creating a level playing field for SMEs in procurement. There is serious attention to this in all three nominees, with the will to think critically and carefully about specific themes around procurement and to actively seek dialogue with the market and put it into practice. The jury compliments Almere, The Hague and Raalte on the way in which they give attention to 'procurement' within their own municipality.

As the nominees were very close to each other in terms of scores, the jury included an extra round of judging. This involved looking more specifically at 'theory and practice'; are the visions entrusted to paper also applied in policy in daily practice? Central to this were a healthy balance between legitimacy and efficiency, fulfilling an exemplary role on one's own scale (given the difference in size of the three municipalities), an open dialogue with the market and demonstrable results, with clear opportunities being created for SMEs. On this basis, the jury unanimously declared The Hague the winner of the MKB AanbestedingsAward 2019.

The judges predetermined that there would be 1 winner and no ranking to 2^e and 3^e place would take place. In addition, the jury believes that if there had been categories for the winners by size, there might have been several winners. However, the unanimous choice fell to the municipality of The Hague where, according to jury chairman Fronik, the procurement policy is not only professional and current, but also breathes the vision of the market.

The jury considered submissions from a large number of contracting authorities. And although only three candidates were nominated, the jury wants to emphasize that the submissions from other contracting authorities also showed that good steps are being made towards a more SME-friendly procurement policy. The jury considers the three finalists to be an example and inspiration for other infrastructure works procurers. The three nominated municipalities received the certificate 'nominated for the MKB INFRA AanbestedingsAward 2019' from the hands of the chairman of the jury and the chairman of MKB INFRA, Philip van Nieuwenhuizen, this afternoon at InfraTech in Rotterdam.

At the time, the MKB INFRA AanbestedingsAward (SME INFRA Procurement Award) was a response to the new procurement legislation, which aims to create a level playing field for large and SME companies and encourage fair competition. The purpose of establishing this prestigious biennial award is to encourage government and semi-government clients to emulate good examples of SME-friendly tendering in civil engineering and thus provide a level playing field for SMEs. With the award, MKB INFRA hopes that innovative solutions will be initiated and optimal price-performance ratios will be achieved, thereby also serving the interests of society. Previous award winners were the municipalities of Nijmegen, Steenwijkerland, Tilburg and Enschede.

The jury of the MKB Infra Tender Award 2019 is composed as follows:

• Ing. H.W.A. (René) Fronik, jury chairman, entrepreneur and board member MKB INFRA
• Ing. F. (Frank) van den Hoogen, Sr. Advisor Cost and Contracts project office City Engineers, Municipality of Nijmegen - winner 1^e SME INFRA Award
• Mr. M.A.Th. (Meriam) de Koning, legal advisor construction and procurement law
• Dr. Ir. I.W. (Iman) Koster, director of CROW
• Drs. M.H.M (Maarten) Loeffen, director of Stadswerk