Sustainable procurement Train the Trainer Jimmy Brannigan

EAF Programme Background Three year project Reducing negative environmental and social impacts through purchasing Steering group, partners from Further Education and Higher Education Training Train the trainer Policy and strategy development Risk based approach to procurement Supplier engagement Social issues in procurement

Sustainable procurement Agenda 09.00 Registration 09.30 Introductions and objectives 10.00 What is sustainable procurement? 10.20 Barriers to sustainable procurement 10.45 Break 11.00 The business case – Presentations 12.00 Networking Lunch

Sustainable procurement 12.45 Where are the opportunities? Review the latest guidance on implementing sustainable procurement 14.15 Break 14.30 What can we do now? How can we use the latest guidance on implementing sustainable procurement?

Sustainable procurement 15.15 Report back and prioritisation – Including communication styles 15.45 Action planning 16.00 Close

Style of the day Challenging Practical Dialogue based Interactive

Objectives Develop a shared understanding of what we mean by sustainable procurement Develop a thorough understanding of the business case for sustainable procurement Support participants communicate sustainable procurement to key players within their organisation

Objectives Develop participants confidence when implementing sustainable procurement within their institution Introduce participants to the latest guidance materials and support when implementing sustainable procurement

Introductions Briefly You and your organisation Why you are here

What is sustainable development?

What is sustainable procurement? Definition for a non procurement professional

Definition “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” HEPS Sustainable Purchasing Guidance – Section 1

Definition “Sustainability in the supply chain is fundamentally about identifying problematic social, environmental and H&S issues throughout the supply chain. Assessing their impact and risks, and then trying to improve them” www.nordicpartnership.org

What are the barriers to sustainable procurement within your institution?

Barriers to Sustainable Procurement National 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. The link needs to be made between sustainability, efficiency and cost savings.

Barriers to Sustainable Procurement National Audit Office 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’. 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 Procurement National Audit Office In Summary Lack of sustainable procurement training and guidance Poor understanding of targets and requirements Taking a short term view.

Presenting the business case Presentations

Presenting the business case Read through the summary document of all of the reasons and explanations as to why this is a good thing ‘the business case’ and prepare 8 minute presentation to convince one of the following Finance manager Devolved purchaser Estates manger / project manager construction project A student

Presenting the business case De-brief

The business case – why do it? Employee expectations Stakeholder demands Benchmarking Customer requirements Risk management Legislation & Standards Business efficiencies Impact Reduction (environmental)

Current management focus Impacts and Opportunities (Environment) High Environmental Footprint Natural Resources Transportation Manufacturing Product Distribution Consumers Low Supply Chain

Current management focus Current Management Effort (Environment) High Environmental Footprint Natural Resources Transportation Manufacturing Product Distribution Consumers Low Supply Chain

Current management focus Mismatch between the two High Environmental Footprint Natural Resources Transportation Manufacturing Product Distribution Consumers Low Supply Chain

Where are the opportunities? Review of the latest guidance

Review of the latest guidance What guidance exists? What does it say? How do you use it?

Review of the latest guidance What guidance exists? Sustainability and Local Government Procurement November 2003 - IDeA Environmental Purchasing in Practice September 2002 – iema HEPS Purchasing for Sustainability: Guidance for Higher Education Institutions – Forum for the Future Procuring the future

Review of the latest guidance What guidance exists? Develop Ethical Purchasing Practice, 2001 – CIPS The ethical decisions – An executive guide to corporate social responsibility, 2004 – CIPS Social issues in purchasing, February 2006 – Office of Government Commerce

Review of the latest guidance What does it say? Understanding of the environmental and social impacts Risk based approach Opportunities throughout the procurement process Identification of need Specification Supplier selection Evaluating tenders Contract management and supplier development

How do you use it?

Identifying need What do we want to buy? Why do we need this product or service? Can the need be met another way? Is a suitable product available elsewhere in the institution? Can the requirement be met by renting, sharing rather than purchasing? Is the quantity requested essential? Is the specification currently used the correct one for the purpose? Can the product serve a useful purpose after its initial use?

Identifying need Challenge repeat purchases! Important as it can free up thinking to look for more sustainable options The more ambitious the environmental objective the more fundamental the re-examination needs to be Good purchasing practice requires fundamental questions are routinely asked about the value being delivered

Identifying need Reduce Replace Re-use Recycle and return Re-think Copyright Barbara Morton Increasing order of Priority

What are the impacts? In groups identify the environmental impacts and the social considerations related to the goods or service being purchased Moves IT

What are the impacts? This exercise is an essential part of the process Can been done as an individual but is better in small groups Encourage devolved purchasers do this with colleagues / environmental professionals This can feed into specification, award criteria, tender evaluation, supplier appraisal

The specification Defined as a “statement of needs to be satisfied by the procurement of external resources” Or What the purchaser wishes to buy and what the supplier is expected to supply

The specification As discussed in ‘Modern Procurement Practice’ 3 types of specification are generally used Functional – defines function and duty of the product or service Performance – defines performance (output specification) Technical – physical characteristics on an item

The specification By placing the emphasis on the functional and performance based specifications this provides an opportunity for the supply market to innovate including reducing environmental and social impact Also key as this indicates to suppliers that environmental and social considerations are important to the client

The specification Fitness for purpose and value for money Resource, energy and water efficiency Minimum use of virgin and non-renewable materials Maximum use of post consumer materials Non (or reduced) polluting with minimum use of toxic chemicals, CFC’c ozone and other pollutants

The specification Maximum durability, reparability, reusability, recyclability and upgradability Minimum packaging Design for disassembly Fault controls to prevent unnecessary waste Health and safety standards Biodegradability

The specification Eco-labels Used by supplier to demonstrate the environmental credentials of goods and services Widely recognised and on the whole very robust DEFRA’s Green Claims Code is a good source of advice on misleading labels Achieving the standard can be costly and time consuming

ECO-labels

The specification Under the procurement regulations you can use eco-label criteria to help determine environmental specifications Can accept eco-labels as proof of compliance – but other proof must also be accepted You cannot stipulate that products must have an eco-label certificate ICLEI guide recommends you always add the words ‘or similar requirements’ and attach the criteria of the relevant eco-label

Supplier selection Pre-qualification Vetting potential suppliers of goods and services to ensure they meet the required standard Environmental Management Systems – if relevant to the subject matter of the contract A simple starting point is to include environmental and social considerations as part of the process Policy’s in place / management commitment H&S record Environmental incidents

Supplier selection Supplier appraisal Used to assess the suppliers environmental and social impacts More important for high risk goods or services or on strategically important contracts

Supplier selection Using questionnaires They are a familiar tool Can be cost effective way of gathering information Can produce a lot of data quickly Can be used at pre-contract to influence the tendering process or post contract as part of contract management

What are the potential pitfalls of questionnaires? Exercise Supplier selection What are the potential pitfalls of questionnaires? Exercise

Sphere of Control Sphere of concern Sphere of influence Sphere of

Tender evaluation Opportunity to incorporate your priorities into tender for goods and services Helps integrate into an essential part of business operations Need to set out contract award criteria at an early stage Opportunity to apply weighting to environmental criteria Award criteria must be linked to the subject matter of the contract

Contract management What can you do? Set target related to your own organisational objectives and relevant to the contract – KPI’s Encourage innovation around reducing environmental and social impacts This sends out a clear message to the market that this is on the agenda and will develop further Use past performance in award of new contracts Discuss alternative products & services with suppliers

Contract management What can you do? Work with your suppliers to stimulate innovation, a better product and service with reduced impact Joint improvement targets often include Reducing packaging weights and volumes Introducing reusable and returnable packaging Reducing hazardous material content in products Examining purchase order quantities and delivery frequency Improving delivery scheduling to reduce transport impacts

Contract management Continuous improvement Work with suppliers to improve Set targets and monitor improvement through contract review Allows organisations to accept issues are apparent but are working to address them Train your suppliers Provide guidance Give awards!!

What can we do now? What do we communicate?

Action Planning

What can we do now? Communicating sustainable procurement Who are our audience? What pressures are they under? What are their concerns? What do we want them to do differrently? How can we help them?

What can we do now? Learning styles Activists: here and now, gregarious, seek challenge and immediate experience, open-minded, bored with implementation Reflectors: stand back, gather data, ponder and analyse, delay reaching conclusions, listen before speaking, thoughtful Theorists: think things through in logical steps, assimilate disparate facts into coherent theories, rationally objective, reject subjectivity and flippancy Pragmatists: seek and try out new ideas, practical, down-to-earth, enjoy problem solving and decision-making quickly, bored with long discussions

Jimmy Brannigan jbrannigan@esdconsulting.co.uk Many thanks Jimmy Brannigan jbrannigan@esdconsulting.co.uk