Sustainable Procurement Project

Sustainable Procurement Project

Jimmy Brannigan

ESD Consulting Ltd

Sustainable Procurement Project In this session we will:

Explore our understanding of sustainable procurement

Introduce some of the drivers and barriers to sustainable procurement

Introduce the project Research Activities

Questions and discussion

What is sustainable procurement?

What is sustainable purchasing? “Sustainable purchasing is all about taking

environmental and social factors into account in purchasing decisions. It’s about looking at what your products are made of, where they come from and who has made them.”

“It’s even about looking at whether you need to make the purchase at all.”

Purchasing for Sustainability, Guidance for Higher Education

What is sustainable development?

Society

EconomyEnvironment

What is sustainable purchasing? Looking for opportunities to reduce the

negative environmental and social impacts of your purchasing choices though. What you buy How you buy it Who you buy it from

Impacts of an institution

Suppliers Energy Materials People

Inputs

Operations Information Services Products Wastes

Outputs

Environmental and social impacts

Current management focus

Natural Resources

Transportation ManufacturingProduct

DistributionConsumers

Environmental Footprint

Impacts and Opportunities (Environment)

Low

Supply Chain

High


Natural Resources




Current Management Effort (Environment)

Low

Supply Chain

High


Natural Resources




Mismatch between the two

Low

Supply Chain

High

What is sustainable purchasing? Opportunities exist at all stages of the

procurement process Identifying the need The specification Supplier qualification and appraisal Tendering and tender evaluation Contract management and contract review Accounting

What are the drivers for sustainable procurement?

Policies and Strategies

LSC Sustainable Development Strategy HEFCE Sustainable Development in Higher

Education

The business case – why do it?

Reputation

Performance

Licence to Operate

Brand

Sustainable Procurement

Customerrequirements

Stakeholderdemands

Employee expectations

Benchmarking

Legislation &Standards

Impact Reduction(environmental)

Business efficiencies

Risk management

What does it mean for universities and colleges? Increasing pressure to become more

sustainable Increasing pressure to balance the

environmental alongside the social and economic considerations

Opportunity through vast purchasing power to drive innovation

What are the barriers to sustainable procurement within your institution?

Barriers to Sustainable ProcurementNational Audit Office Whist there is a high level of commitment to national

targets; there is often a low level of understanding of the exact requirements, therefore creating an ‘implementation gap’ – the gap between policy and practice.

Even with a high level commitment in the shape of policies and specific targets, this becomes heavily diluted by the time it reaches the Procurement Departments. A lot of the sustainability issues are lost and replaced instead by ‘best value’ often easily translated to cheapest price.

Barriers to Sustainable ProcurementNational Audit Office The link needs to be made between sustainability,

efficiency and cost savings.

Procurement staff are often not trained in sustainability issues and do not understand how to achieve the targets. It is often the case that the will to procure in a sustainable manner is strong, yet the procurement teams are unable to complete the task. This often includes a basic misunderstanding of the term ‘sustainable procurement’.

Barriers to Sustainable ProcurementNational Audit Office Lack of knowledge in this area has often

resulted of the seeming lack of understanding of the role of sustainability in risk assessments.

Barriers to Sustainable ProcurementNational Audit Office In Summary

Lack of sustainable procurement training and guidance

Poor understanding of targets and requirements Taking a short term view.

Sustainable Procurement Project

What support is available?

DEFRA Environmental Action Fund- 3 year project Advice on how your college or university can

implement Sustainable Procurement Training for your sustainability and purchasing

team Access to advice and copies of all guidance

materials and case studies developed through the project

Reduce the impact of participating institutions (including students)

Steering group

Higher Education Funding Council for England

Learning and Skills Council Learning and Skills Network NUS Services Limited Chartered Institute of

Purchasing and Supply University of Hull Office Depot

FIREBUY Crescent Purchasing

Consortium Southern Universities

Purchasing Consortium North Eastern Universities

Purchasing Group Sun Microsystems Blackpool and Fylde

College

Project partners

Bicton College Blackpool and Fylde

College Nottingham Trent University Pershore Group of Colleges Suffolk College University of Hull University of Northampton University of the Arts

London University of the West of

England

South Tyneside College University of Bristol University of Durham University of East London University of

Gloucestershire University of Hertfordshire University of Plymouth University of Southampton Wigan and Leigh College Worcester College of

Technology

Research – Where are we now?

Structure

Split into 3 areas Management and policy framework How purchasing is organised Understanding of current practice

Management Framework

Policies63% Environmental Policy79% Purchasing Policy16% Sustainable Development Policy5% CSR PolicySome specific policies 25% Energy, 31% Recycling,

21% WLC Individual responsibility

84% Environment73% Environment within Purchasing

Management Framework

Management Commitment

68% Management committed Based on what? – Commitment to this project If not why not – cost, no resources it will cost

more money etc Environment or SD Team in place

63% Meets regularly

31% Have looked at procurement

53% Have some student involvement

How is purchasing is organised? Central purchasing team

73% Yes sometimes very small - 1 average around 4-5

Devolved purchasing89% Yes 20 – 1000

Purchasing guidance89% Yes47% Provide guidance on SD/Environmental

issues

How is purchasing is organised? Percentage of purchasing spend centrally

controlled31% below 50%

69% above 50% Do you have responsibility for any specific

purchases?79% Yes

How is purchasing is organised? Have you been trained on sustainable

purchasing?20 people from 19 institutions (12 from one

institution!)

How is purchasing is organised? Are you a member of a purchasing

consortium?94% Yes

79% Said the consortium has env / soc policies in place

Confusion as to how this has influenced specific commodities

Current practice

Do you include environmental and social considerations in any of your purchasing decisions89% Yes

Have you used a risk based approach?10% Yes

26% Said students had influenced purchasing decisions

Current practice

Supplier engagement42% Engage with suppliers on environmental

and social issues

47% Use some form of questionnaire

Summary

Some good practice Lots of activity in a variety of places Opportunities to share between institutions Lack of general awareness Environmental focus rather than sustainability

or CSR Challenge of devolved purchasers

Current Activities

Guidance being developed on: Developing a business case Using cross functional teams Risk based approach to procurement

Current Activities

Training has been developed: Train the trainer – communicating sustainable

procurement Risk based approaches to procurement Developing a sustainable procurement policy and

strategy Supplier engagement for sustainability Social issue in the supply chain

Questions

[email protected]

www.eauc.org.uk

Documents

Sustainable Procurement Project