Yhteishankinta

Yhteishankinta, or joint procurement, is a procurement approach in which several public sector bodies—such as municipalities, regional authorities, hospital districts, and other agencies—carry out a procurement procedure together to purchase goods, services, or works. The goal is to increase buying power, obtain more favorable terms, and align specifications to support interoperability and standardization across authorities.

A joint procurement can be managed by a central coordinating body, a lead contracting authority, or open participation in a framework agreement. Participants submit needs, contribute to the specification, and commit to the resulting contracts. The process typically includes planning, market dialogue, tendering under applicable public procurement rules, award of contracts, and ongoing contract management.

Legal framework: In Finland, yhteishankinta operates under the Public Procurement Act and related regulations, with EU public procurement directives governing contracts above thresholds. Authorities must ensure transparency, non-discrimination, proportionality, and equal treatment, while respecting confidentiality and data protection.

Benefits include scale effects, better prices and terms, reduced administrative overhead, standardized requirements, and easier cross-organizational reuse of contracts. It can also support sustainable and innovative procurement by pooling requirements and sharing best practices.

Challenges include coordinating among multiple entities with different needs and budgets, sharing savings and risk, ensuring governance and accountability, managing timetables, and addressing legal and logistical complexities. Common application areas are IT systems, energy and utilities, professional services, fleet and transport, and public works.

Overall, yhteishankinta is a widely used mechanism in the Finnish public sector to improve procurement efficiency and coherence across authorities while adhering to strict legal standards.