Interview with Tudor Oprișor, PhD: Advancing Sustainable Procurement in the Railway Sector

Hi SPRINTers,

Welcome to the first in our series of mini-interviews featuring members of the SPRINT project, an initiative focused on sustainable procurement in the railway sector. In this interview, we are pleased to have a conversation with Dr. Tudor Oprișor, a researcher and lecturer from Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, the Romanian partner in the project.

Tudor brings extensive expertise in accounting, sustainability, and business development consultant and and co-manager at a small enterprise, making his contributions to SPRINT invaluable.

Dr. Oprișor shares his perspectives on the project’s objectives, challenges, and potential contributions to sustainable procurement in the railway sector:

A Journey in Academia and Beyond

Given your expertise in sustainability and business, what inspired you to contribute to the SPRINT project?

👨‍🏫 Dr. Oprișor: Well, although the project doesn’t really revolutionize anything, but it brings a lot of added value and insights into the direction of public procurement. In my opinion, the main artisan of this project – at least from the Romanian side – is our colleague, Daniela. When she came up with the proposal, I was very eager to be a part of the team, as my previous research focus during my doctoral and post-doctoral studies was framed on sustainability and integrated reporting. Then, we teamed up with Gillian and her team from USN - University of South-Easthern Norway, as they were very excited to get involved in this knowledge sharing initiative. I consider green procurement as the only durable way forward because we see that the world is changing, and climate issues become more and more problematic. We hope that at the end of the project we can provide more clarity on this topic and create some instruments to map the road towards greener procurement.

Collaboration and Challenges in the Research Process

How has the collaboration between the research teams in Romania and Norway progressed?

👨‍🏫 Dr. Oprișor: Very well, we’re delighted with our collaboration. This is actually not our first project partnering with them, we had previous common endeavors. Gillian and Eivind have always been a great support and open to our proposals. On the technical side, for SPRINT, we are currently working Behzad, Abdelkader and their research assistants and – I have to say – they are just brilliant, as you may have already seen in the first deliverables. They are very involved, always provide good and constructive feedback, and you can see their quality in their work. So, all in all, so far, it’s a great collaboration.

This synergy has significantly contributed to the success of the project so far.

What are some of the key challenges you have encountered in your research?

👨‍🏫 Dr. Oprișor: I believe it’s always challenging in these transnational projects to find comparable data. Romania and Norway have different systems of reference and different legislative frameworks, but I’m confident that we can find a way forward. Also, I believe that there are good examples and good practices from Norway that can be transposed for Romanian stakeholders – and we expect to see this in the findings. One major challenge is the scarcity of data – at least in Romania – concerning the GPP topic. The field is currently in development, as we monitor the activity and provisions brought by the Authority for Railway Reform. However, we try to match the amount of data collected by the team from Norway – so that the deliverables can be comparable. In addition, as we are currently working on the third deliverable, we have issues finding respondents to interviews from the railway stakeholder spectrum. Finding more stakeholders would increase the value of the third deliverable, but we’ll see how that works out.

Potential Contributions to Policy and Industry

How do you anticipate the findings of the SPRINT project contributing to policy, industry, and society?

👨‍🏫 Dr. Oprișor: In lots of ways! The project has a logical structure: it starts from a static view of the current status in this field – the so-called “initial situation report”, followed by the policy brief – on the legislative side. The last two activities and deliverables – currently a work in progress – have a more practical side. So, on the policy levels we have some insight from both systems – Romania and Norway – and we can pinpoint the strengths and, let’s say, gaps – where we can delineate some recommendations and proposals, using knowledge transfer. On the practical side, we will try to extract from the case studies and interviews some insights which will help us create a framework for good practices and synthesize the findings in a business toolkit. This last deliverable will have the greatest impact and added value, as we aim to make it replicable for other industries which use facets of GPP, as well. Sustainable development will consistently be an important focus point in the following years, so we hope our research will provide clarity for the general public and, specifically, for the important stakeholders. The timeframe for the project is a bit restricted, so this will be only the exploratory side, but our aim is to use this funding as a platform for a durable collaboration in researching this topic for the years to come.

Broader Significance of The Project

How can stakeholders and the public engage with the findings of this research?

👨‍🏫 Dr. Oprișor: We’re always open to discussion and debates. We have hoped for a better response rate at the interviews, but it is what it is. However, we eagerly invite anyone interested in this topic to contact us and give feedback in real time, it always helps us to have constructive feedback and – why not – constructive criticism. I think our contacts are on the official website, but the public can also interact with us on social media, as well. Great work, by the way, we highly commend you on your wonderful work in promoting our project and findings online.
We’re delighted by your involvement and we thank you for being a valuable part of our SPRINT team!

This interview with Dr. Tudor Oprișor highlights the importance of sustainable procurement, the collaborative research process, and the challenges and opportunities in implementing green procurement practices. As the SPRINT project advances, its findings aim to contribute to policy recommendations, industry practices, and academic discourse on sustainability in the railway sector.

🔹 Stay tuned about our research and updates.

JOINT WORKSHOPS IN NORWAY – BRIEFING

Date: October 29th, 2024

The first major activity from our project took place at campus of the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) in Kongsberg, Norway, where the Romanian team traveled for joint workshops from October 24th, 2024 until October 29th, 2024. The days were full of insightful meetings and constructive knowledge sharing, which created the context to move forward with the activities and the deliverables.

The Romanian delegation consisted of:

• Ms. Daniela Cimpean, PhD – Project Manager & Law and Procurement Expert;

• Mr. Tudor Oprisor, PhD – Sustainability Reporting and Procurement Expert;

• Ms. Ioana Cimpean – Administrative Assistant.

The discussions were moderated by Ms. Gillian Warner-Søderholm, Professor and Head of Department at USN School of Business, who was kind enough to ensure the full support of USN throughout this material activity with both teams. Credit also goes to Ms. Olga Muntean and Ms. Berit Bastiansen – who were involved in the administrative planning discussions between the management of the two teams, ensuring the appropriate implementation of the project.

On the technical side, the spotlight discussions involved the main researchers from USN – Prof. Abdelkader SBIHI PhD, Habilité à Diriger des Recherches, and Behzad Behdani, Professor, Researcher & Advisor. Their valuable expertise and experience are a great strength within the implementation process of the project. The main topics discussed by Abdelkader, Behzad, Tudor and Daniela included: the implementation timeframe; the format of the deliverables; the status of GPP in Romania and Norway – elements of policy and practice; case studies and stakeholder engagement. The discussions were extremely fruitful and concluded with some useful work templates, which represent the ground for the first two deliverables within the project.

Actively attending the joint workshops, we also give credit to the USN research assistants: Karoline Hauan Trevland, Victor G. Lopera, and Nicolai Arun Jacobsen. Their fresh perspective on the activities and objectives of the project outlines interesting ideas and facilitates the smooth attainment of the first objectives from the project.

The time spent in Norway was a wonderful opportunity for the Romanian team to experience knowledge sharing in a different cultural context. At the end of the visit, a brief meeting occurred between the main researchers, concluding the constructive workshops and taking home some valuable insights, driving forward the GPP mapping within the project.

KICK-OFF EVENT FOR PROJECT SPRINT – ROMANIA

Date: October 17th, 2024

Our project called “Sustainable procurement in railway industry on the right track: Romania and Norway in collaboration” (acronym: SPRINT) successfully kicked off in Romania on October 17th, 2024. The event took place at Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca, Faculty of Business (on the premises of Horea Street, no. 7), starting at 6 PM. The project is funded by EEA Grants and involves a fruitful collaboration between Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania) and University of South-Eastern Norway (Norway).

The event gathered many interested parties from academia, from industry, but also from the policymakers’ side. At the beginning of the event, Mr. Valentin Toader, PhD, the Dean of the Faculty of Business – who is also an Economics Expert within the team of the project – gave a foreword to the kick-off meeting and ensured the support of the University for all the activities and the achievement of the project’s objectives.

Afterwards, Ms. Daniela Cimpean, PhD – the project manager for the Romanian team – held a presentation of the project’s ambitious objectives, context, activities and expected results. This presentation provided some insightful elements on how the project will contribute to more clarity and delineations to the general topic of green public procurement, as well as the research gaps in terms of policy and practical applications.

Following Ms. Cimpean’s presentation, a representative of the Romanian Railway Reform Authority (translation from “Autoritatea pentru Reforma Feroviara – ARF”) – Mr. Viorel Lucaci (councilor for the RRRA President’s Office) – issued a brief address with words of support for the project, ensuring the policymakers’ involvement in the promotion and development of green public procurement and giving the authority’s perspective on the project. The Romanian Railway Reform Authority has the main role of implementing public policies in passenger railway transportation.

Throughout the remainder of the event, we had words of support from important stakeholders, such as:

• Ms. Iuliana Badea – Procurement & SC GCC Site Director at Alstom & Ms. Ofelia Cristina Sasu – Procurement Operations Manager at Alstom. For nearly 30 years, Alstom has been a pioneer, playing a significant role in Romania's transition to modern and sustainable rail transport. From digital rail traffic control solutions, infrastructure, and electrification to metro trains, long-term maintenance of the Bucharest metro train fleet, and electric inter-regional passenger trains, Alstom is actively bringing about positive change in Romania's rail transport.

• Mr. Dorin Pop – Representative of Transferoviar Grup – a unified and solid group of companies operating in the railway sector both domestically and internationally. The company's main activity is providing freight and passenger rail transport and shunting services, managing railway infrastructure, and constructing railways, roads, and highways.

• Mr. Daniel Borota – Representative of Flexibil – a company with a history of over 50 years, which currently designs, develops, manufactures, and tests rubber-metal components and assemblies for various industries. The company’s products are widely used in various industries, such as railways, industrial production, and construction machinery.

After all the interventions from stakeholders, the event concluded with social networking in the Faculty’s library.

SPRINT Project Releases Reports on Sustainable Procurement in the Railway Sector

The SPRINT is pleased to announce the release of the latest Working Packages publicly on Green Public Procurement for Sustainable and Circular Rail Systems in Romania and Norway. These documents provide an in-depth analysis of current procurement challenges, best practices, and strategic recommendations to enhance sustainability in the railway sector.

These reports, conducted under this EU project, are the result of dedicated research and studies by our Scientific Researchers and key opinion leaders in Norway and Romania. The University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) and Universitatea Babeș-Bolyai (UBB) have played a key role as the academic partners of this initiative, while Sporveien, as the industrial partner, has contributed invaluable expertise and collaboration. This project represents an outstanding showcase of industry-academia collaboration at the EU level.

At the heart of the SPRINT Project is our dedication to transparency, knowledge-sharing, and fostering sustainable procurement practices. We believe that by making this data publicly available, we can empower policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers to make informed, data-driven decisions that will accelerate the transition to sustainable railway infrastructure.

As sustainable procurement plays a crucial role in advancing environmentally responsible railway infrastructure. our publicly available Policy Briefs serve as a strategic tool for decision-makers, industry stakeholders, and policymakers to drive forward sustainable railway projects in alignment with European and national sustainability objectives.

The Initial Situation Reports, available in two versions for Norway and Romania, serve as a crucial foundation for understanding the railway sector's sustainability landscape and its alignment with international green procurement strategies. It provides valuable information for stakeholders, policymakers, and researchers interested in the future of sustainable railway procurement.

These documents as our Working Packages: Green Public Procurement for Sustainable and Circular Rail Systems in Romania and Norway are now available for public access. Stakeholders are encouraged to review the findings and collaborate on solutions for a greener railway industry.

Stay tuned for further updates and research outputs from Project SPRINT.

The Kick-Off Session

On Friday, 18th October, we had an inspiring kick-off session for this collaborative project between the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) and Sporveien AS, along with our Romanian partners, including representatives from Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB).

The session featured insightful presentations by USN’s Gillian Warner-Søderholm, Professor and Head of Department at USN School of Business, Prof. Abdelkader SBIHI PhD, Habilité à Diriger des Recherches, and Behzad Behdani, Professor, Researcher & Advisor and also Eivind Arne Fauskanger Associate Professor at USN. This was followed by Tore Martin Solvang from Sporveien, who introduced Sporveien and the Norwegian rail sector to our international group, including Tudor Oprisor from UBB’s Faculty of Business.

Key topics covered included:

-Overview of the project's ambitious goals
-A deep dive into Green Public Procurement principles in the rail sector, with insights from Sporveien
-Framework for collaboration between all partners
-Open discussion for questions, ideas, and suggestions
-We’re thrilled to see this collaboration advancing and contributing to innovation in sustainable transportation!

hashtag#SustainableTransport hashtag#GreenPublicProcurement hashtag#USNSporveien hashtag#InnovationInRail hashtag#Sustainability hashtag#Collaboration hashtag#EEAProject hashtag#ResearchAndDevelopment

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