Sustainable Procurement Strategy
Introduction
The CPS supports and actively contributes to the UK Strategy for Sustainable Development, which has five guiding principles:
- Living Within Environmental Limits
- Ensuring a Strong Healthy and Just Society
- Achieving a Sustainable Economy
- Promoting Good Governance
- Using Sound Science Responsibly
The CPS' policy on Sustainable Procurement forms part of its Sustainable Development Strategy.
Our commitment
The CPS recognises that sustainable procurement is an essential element in moving towards a more sustainable society and CPS' sustainable procurement strategy reflects our committment to embedding sustainable development considerations into spending and investment decisions and thus promoting the conservation and improvement of the environment. Furthermore, the CPS is committed to ensuring that sustainability through procurement becomes embedded throughout the Department. This document describes the CPS approach to achieving these commitments.
What is sustainable procurement?
Sustainable procurement means the inclusion of environmental and social aspects into purchasing decisions at every stage of the procurement process to ensure that the product or service ultimately delivered satisfies the defined environmental and social conditions. It further entails the analysis of what products are made of, where they have come from and who has made them & the incorporation of these considerations in a way that ensures that there is the least impact on society and the environment throughout the full life cycle of the goods or services purchased.
There are many benefits of sustainable procurement (e.g. long-term efficiency savings, encouraging innovation, more efficient and effective use of natural resources). When implementing the sustainable procurement policy CPS must ensure though, first and foremost, compliance with the fundamental objectives of Government procurement: VFM and fostering supplier competitiveness.
Aims of sustainable procurement
The aims of embedding sustainable development considerations into CPS' spending and investment decisions are:
- To avoid adverse environmental impacts arising on the government estate and in the supply-chain
- To make more efficient use of public resources
- To stimulate the market to innovate and to produce more cost effective and sustainable options for all purchasers and
- To set an example for business and increase public confidence, that the CPS is serious about sustainable development.
CPS' Environmental Purchasing policy
The CPS' Environmental Purchasing Policy underlines our commitment to procure all our goods, services and works in a sustainable manner.
The CPS aims to integrate its Environmental Purchasing Policy, and other relevant sustainable development policy requirements into all of its procurement activities.
Our policy on Envrironmental Purchasing is:
- To comply with environmental legislation and regulatory requirements;
- To promote environmental awareness amongst suppliers and contractors;
- To buy more environmentally friendly products;
- To consider environmental factors when making procurement decisions; and
- To develop awareness of environmental issues within the Department.
Where appropriate, goods and services specifications will include environmental criteria and will be purchased in the normal way through competitive tender and seeking best value for money (VfM). VfM is defined as 'the optimum combination of whole-life cost and quality (or fitness for purpose) to meet the user's requirements'.
The Department will:
- Research and follow guidance relating to the environment;
- Include environmental conditions or criteria in specification and tender documents where relevant;
- Evaluate specifications and tenders with appropriate weight given to environmental points; and
- Encourage suppliers and contractors to support our initiative by taking their own action.
Where environmental conditions are specified, evaluation will normally take into account:
- Regulatory compliance;
- Environmental effects and performance measures;
- Existing environmental management procedures; and
- Commitment to management and process improvement.
The Department is committed to undertaking environmental risk assessments of its contracting activity and to developing and implementing an environmental supply chain management programme.
Communication plan
The CPS will communicate its Environmental Purchasing Policy and all ongoing relevant sustainable development requirements to stakeholders and to our customers via one or more of the following:
- Procurement Advisory Group;
- Law Officers' Departments Procurement Working Group;
- CPS Intranet site;
- CPS Procurement Internet site;
- CPS Local Purchasing Officers;
- Supplier events.
The CPS will develop a checklist of environmental and social considerations for each stage of the procurement process, which will be available to our internal customers via the CPS procurement intranet site.
The CPS works closely with other Law Officers' Departments on sustainable development issues including sustainable procurement.
Environmental risk assessments
Adoption of a risk-based approach is seen as a key tool to sensible decision-making when taking account of sustainability issues within each procurement exercise. The CPS will incorporate a process of environmental and social risk assessment in to our procurement activities. Our approach to risk management will be in line with CPS' policy on Risk Management & will include the application of approved Programme and Project Management principles & tools.
Environmental supply chain management
The CPS already complies with the existing Government-wide standards on sustainable procurement and with the requirement, that all new central government department contracts must apply the minimum environmental standards when purchasing certain types of products, which cover aspects such as energy efficiency, recycled content and biodegradability- i.e. the "Quick Wins" [a list is contained in Appendix A].
The new EU Consolidated Directive, which has been enacted in UK legislation as of 31 January 2006, allows the CPS to identify social and environmental conditions related to the performance of the contract provided they are compatible with Community law and are included in the contract notice. Environmental award criteria are permitted provided they are linked to the subject matter of the contract. Additionally suppliers may be excluded from tender exercises for professional misconduct relating to environmental and social legislation or for non-compliance with environmental or social requirements in previous contracts.
The real opportunities to manage the supply chain arise therefore once the contract has been let. A process for identifying the CPS suppliers with most impact on the environment and social issues and therefore the most opportunity to influence and manage their supply chains in this regard will be developed. A programme for the management of those CPS suppliers, and their supply chains, identified by this process will be developed and progressed, in liaison with the designated CPS contract managers for those contracts.
Further integration of Government-wide initiatives and guidance
CPS has robust methods for the dissemination of procurement initiatives and guidance and for its subsequent integration into Departmental guidance and best practice. These include, for example, the use of the CPS Intranet and Internet sites and the internal publication of information using CPS' Gateway Notices. These will remain the main methods for disseminating and integrating future sustainability initiatives and guidance.
Major initiatives will also be disseminated through workshops and training initiatives, as and when appropriate.
Mechanisms for measuring and reporting on progress
Progress will be measured via the environmental risk assessment process and the environmental supply chain management programme. Mechanisms for measuring progress and success will be included at the time of developing these two areas.
Action plan
The Action Plan for implementing CPS' Sustainable Procurement Strategy is attached in Appendix B.
Management structure and resources
The Head of Procurement & Commercial Services (P&CS) has overall responsibility for the CPS Sustainable Procurement Strategy.
Day to day actions arising from the Strategy are the responsibility of the Procurement Policy Officer, reporting through the Senior Procurement Policy and Strategic Contracts Manager, who reports to the Head of P&CS. Additional resources will be provided, when necessary, by P&CS Operations Manager, CPS Sustainable Development Advisor and FMBC staff.