Oresund Hospital Procurement
A Swedish - Danish EU project on hospital procurement cooperation across the Oresund Strait.
In early 2006, a partly EU funded copperation project on hospital procurement was initiated between Region Skåne in southern Sweden and the Capital Region of Denmark.
The aim of the project is to break down barriers between public hospital procurement organisations on either side of the Oresund Strait and establish improved conditions for durable and formalised cooperation to optimise hospital procurement and be able to meet suppliers on more equal and up-to-date terms.
The initiative is motivated by the fact that relevant suppliers are today consolidated and based on global marketing and pricing strategies, which provides an increasing challenge for public procurement organisations to be able to act internationally and attract new suppliers to stimulate sound competition in the overall region.
On a jount platform the Swedish-Danish partners will be better equipped to meet the challenge and exploit synergies in meeting suppliers also at the international level.
The two and a half year project has a total budget of 3.8 million Swedish kroner, financed jointly by EU Interreg IIIA funds and the Swedish and Danish partners involved, including a contribution from the organisation Danish Regions. The involved procurement organisations service a total of 24 hospitals with an estimated annual purchasing budget of approx. 9.2 billion Swedish kroner (or 7.5 billion Danish kroner).
The project was formally launched at a kick-off conference in Lund, Sweden, on the 5th of May 2006. The conference included presentations by public and private sector procurement experts on future opportunities for improved public hospital procurement in the Oresund region, as well as workshops, where the Swedish and Danish procurement consultants defined the scope of the initial work.
"This cooperation deals with e.g. market analysis, competition supplier relations, pricing, education, job rotation and not least common tender invitations and procurement", says Head of procurement, Oluf Ravn from Copenhagen County (before 2007 lead partner on behalf of the Capital Region of Denmark).
The work is structured around four thematic areas: a) development of a common database; b) cooperation in the field of market analysis and global sourcing; c) development of internal and external partnerships, and finally: d) cross border procurement and purchasing - legal and practical barriers and opportunities. The project aims to establish a higher degree of similarity between partner procedures and routines to establish technical preconditions for the cooperation.
In addition, the intention is to activate both the educational and the private sectors as a source of inspiration for developing an innovative hospital procurement organisation in the Oresund region. Furthermore, the project partners work together with partners from an equivalent network of procurement organisations in Northern Germany, towards the development of a broader EU project aimed at the establishment of a broader EU network in this field.
For furher information please contact:
project manager Christell Erichsen or project coordinator Martin Lund.
