Sustainable Procurement Project
-
Upload
giselle-winters -
Category
Documents
-
view
59 -
download
10
description
Transcript of 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
Current management focus
Natural Resources
Transportation ManufacturingProduct
DistributionConsumers
Environmental Footprint
Current Management Effort (Environment)
Low
Supply Chain
High
Current management focus
Natural Resources
Transportation ManufacturingProduct
DistributionConsumers
Environmental Footprint
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