About Government Buying Standards

The Government Buying Standards are owned by Defra and the standards themselves are developed by a Cross-Government Stakeholder Group.

The standards are mandatory for all central government departments, their executive agencies, Non Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) and Non-Ministerial Departments (NMDs). They currently cover a range of products and services in ten priority product groups, and will be maintained over the coming years.

This is one of the reasons why Government Buying Standards are viewed as an important tool in making it easy to set sustainable procurement specifications.  The standards  have been endorsed by ministers and senior officials in Defra, HM Treasury and other departments. They are listed as a commitment in Defra’s Structural Reform Programme.

Government Buying Standards are aligned to the European Commission’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) initiative. By using GBS you will be also be able to meet EU wide criteria and comply with  UK commitments  and priorities.

1. The Government Buying Standards were originally introduced as Quick Wins in 2003, meeting Government-set environmental targets as part of the Report and Recommendations of the Sustainable Procurement Group.
2. They were rebranded as Buy Sustainable – Quick Wins in 2008 and formed part of the recommendations in the 2009 NAO Report Addressing the Environmental Impacts of Government procurement
3. Buy Sustainable – Quick Wins became Government Buying Standards in 2010.

A number of important organisations are working with Defra in the Cross-Government Steering Groups that set Government Buying Standards.

See also

• Greenticks catalogue provided by Buying Solutions: find suppliers that have certified their products as meeting Government Buying Standards