Www.buy4wales.co.uk “Practical Implementation of Sustainable Procurement Policy ” Gunther Kostyra Head of Sustainable Procurement

www.buy4wales.co.uk www.sell2wales.co.uk

“Practical Implementation

of Sustainable

Procurement Policy ”

Gunther KostyraHead of Sustainable Procurement Policy

Value Wales


A Happy Place

Who Am I?

•Welsh Health Supplies – central procurement

body for the NHS in Wales providing

contracting and materials management

services

•Value Wales – secondment to the organisation

formerly known as the Welsh Procurement

Initiative Team


What Am I Going to Say?

•A bit of background on Value Wales

•Sustainable Development and the National

Assembly for Wales

•Public Sector Procurement in Wales

•Sustainable Procurement

•The actions we have taken in Wales

•The actions we intend to take

•Working with our Celtic colleagues


Background •Better Value Wales report published in 2000 – a joined

up approach to procurement in the Welsh Public Sector

•42 recommendations were made to and accepted by the

Welsh Assembly Government with Sustainable

Development identified as key issue

•The Welsh Procurement Initiative Team was formed

•Making the Connections report 2004 established Value

Wales with a broader and stronger remit


Sustainable Development Duties in Wales

•National Assembly of Wales - Government Act 1998 “.. to promote sustainable development in the exercise of its functions”

•UK minister Elliot Morley noted in SD UK published Summer 2005 that “procurement is another key area where Government can lead the way”

•OGC conference “Every penny we spend on the public’s behalf should deliver long term benefits” – “long term” is the key to sustainable procurement


Procurement in the Welsh Public Sector

•1/3 public sector budgets are spent on external

suppliers

•Wales spends £4 billion pounds a year (11% GDP)

•Estimated 1/3 of the £4 billion is currently spent in

Wales

•Considerable collective influence on supply base

and a duty to spend it in a sustainable manner


What is Sustainable Procurement?

… taking social economic and environmental factors into consideration alongside financial factors in making procurement decisions. Looking beyond the traditional economic parameters and making decisions based on the whole life cost, the associated risks, measures of success and implications for society and the environment.


What has Value Wales been doing?

•Engaging with SME’s e.g. the web sites noted below. Over half of Welsh Public Sector organisations post contract notices on the web site; 11,000 companies have registered their details•Developing procurement guidance based on sustainable development e.g. “Buy Now, Don’t Pay Later and “ Buying into Sustainable Development” published in December 2004



•Establishing a common definition of value for money – whole life costings i. e. the long term•Producing a “How to Tender” guide for SME’S – 6,000 companies have so far requested the guide• Providing a self assessment tool whereby a Public Sector organisation can measure progress – 56 organisations currently signed up with 19 having so far completed the assessment



•Providing training and awareness sessions for procurement staff in the Welsh Public Sector – even more important with the forthcoming changes to the EU regulations• Assisting collaborative procurement projects across Wales – aggregation of demand does not necessarily equate to aggregation of supply



•Piloting the use of social clauses i. e. achieving community benefits through improving training and placing the long term economically inactive in employment – Construction pilots in Llandudno, Porth and Holyhead• Establishing an All-Wales Procurement Strategy template which makes specific reference to sustainable development


What has Value Wales been doing? •Developing SME’s through groups such as Business Procurement Taskforce, chaired by the Minister for Economic Development and Transport and the Local Supplier Development Group, facilitated by the Welsh Development Agency.• Research has been undertaken with 50 Welsh SME’s with the unsurprising conclusion that the Public Sector’s approach to Procurement should be more consistent and documentation simpler



•Producing a charter for SME friendly procurement called “Opening Doors”, which encompasses much of the work previously mentioned and will be the subject of a ministerial launch and road show in the Spring• Sign up of Public Sector organisations is currently underway and VW hopes to launch standard public sector documentation at the same time



•Working with SME’s on food, particularly Beef and Primary school breakfasts / meals – food miles and nutritional standards being particular issues• Undertaking procurement fitness checks to help procurement organisations recognise their strengths and areas for improvement. 16 so far undertaken with sustainability a consistent area for improvement



•Promoting and supporting initiatives such as the waste minimisation campaign run by Envirowise aimed at cutting waste out of the supply chain• Working with organisations such as Oxfam to promote ethical supply chains – currently looking at Fair Trade bananas•Eliminating paper trading through use of the purchasing card and web tendering – considering Scottish model



•Running workshops for the Public Sector including sessions on sustainable fleet procurement, energy management and recycled paper (in conjunction with WRAP)•More planned on ethical supply chains, office consumables and construction


Some Examples of What Can be Done


Stationery

•Collaboration across the Welsh Public Sector

•Emphasis on use of recycled products

•Cost and process savings


Personal Computers

•Another collaborative approach

•Disposal built into the contract in advance of

the WEE regulations

•Local suppliers compete with the big boys

•More cost and process savings


Disposal of Healthcare Waste

•Contentious issue for the NHS

•Dialogue with the market essential before drawing up a

specification

•Objectives include reducing landfill by ensuring waste

is turned into products or energy and that waste does

not travel long distances

•Weighted criteria used with risk and deliverability being

the most important issue


The Web Sites

•Once only principle aimed at SME’s but open to all

•Database of potential suppliers available to the

Welsh Public Sector

•Database of Contract opportunities available to

suppliers

•Linked to Welsh Development Agency web site

“The Contract Shop”, which is aimed at increasing

Business to Business SME tradingwww.buy4wales.co.uk www.sell2wales.co.uk

Procurement Law

•New EU Regulations come into effect 31st January

2006, which specifically allow for sustainability to

be considered as part of a procurement exercise

•All Public Sector Procurement has to be based on

transparency and equity

•Even more important in light of the Freedom of

Information Act and the Environmental Information

Regulations


Internal barriers

The National Audit Office report September 2005 on

Sustainable Procurement in Government departments

concluded that the main barriers were

•Conflict with the objective of reducing costs

•Lack of leadership on the issue

•Failure to integrate sustainability into standard

procurement practice

•Lack of training and guidance

•Uncertainty about procurement law in this area


Barriers – Plans for Value Wales

•Getting over the efficiency argument. Elliot Morley said

at the OGC conference “Value for money and efficiency

are not incompatible with sustainable procurement.

Efficiency must mean getting better outcomes for the

public”

•The Government's Sustainable Procurement Taskforce

chaired by Sir Neville Simms will provide the leadership

UK wide, VW will lead in Wales


Barriers – Plans for Value Wales

•Action plans will be developed following the self

assessments carried out to ensure Sustainable

Development is embedded in the procurement process

•Further training will be undertaken and a practical

toolkit developed for use in Public Sector Procurement

•Issues relating to EU procurement law will be resolved


Working with Scotland

•We have many common issues

•We can take a sustainable approach to

sharing and reusing ideas


To Conclude

•There is commitment from the Welsh Assembly Government

•Sustainable development is high on the agenda of all Welsh

Public Sector bodies

•Sustainable procurement is recognised as an important part of

the agenda

•Policy and guidance has been agreed and there are numerous

ad hoc examples of progress being made

•What is needed now is consistent practical implementation of

policies with recognition of the local and global issues


Back to the Happy Place


Thank You

Any Questions?


Documents

Www.buy4wales.co.uk “Practical Implementation of Sustainable Procurement Policy ” Gunther Kostyra Head of Sustainable Procurement