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?

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 Inputs Outputs Information Services Products Wastes Suppliers Energy Materials People Operations Environmental and social impacts

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

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? Employee expectations Stakeholder demands Benchmarking Customer requirements Risk management Legislation & Standards Business efficiencies Impact Reduction (environmental)

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? Initial brainstorm - sommunicating

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. Whilst many organisations have ambitions to procure more sustainably they often find implementation is difficult and complicated. The National Office of Statistics Review of Sustainable Procurement within Government Departments was carried out in 2005. In the report a number of challenges were identified which whilst not specific only to the public sector are commonplace. Some of the key challenges identified in the report have been summarised below.

Barriers to Sustainable Procurement National 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’. In conclusion, the main findings of the National Office of Statistics Review are that sustainable procurement is not currently integrated into departmental procurement strategies. This is the case in many public sector environments and is suggest that there are some core reasons for this. Three of the reasons can be summarised as:

Barriers to Sustainable Procurement National 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. In conclusion, the main findings of the National Office of Statistics Review are that sustainable procurement is not currently integrated into departmental procurement strategies. This is the case in many public sector environments and is suggest that there are some core reasons for this. Three of the reasons can be summarised as:

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.

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 FIREBUY Higher Education Funding Council for England Crescent Purchasing Consortium Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium North Eastern Universities Purchasing Group Sun Microsystems Blackpool and Fylde College 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

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 Policies Individual responsibility 63% Environmental Policy 79% Purchasing Policy 16% Sustainable Development Policy 5% CSR Policy Some specific policies 25% Energy, 31% Recycling, 21% WLC Individual responsibility 84% Environment 73% 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 purchasing 89% Yes 20 – 1000 Purchasing guidance 47% Provide guidance on SD/Environmental issues

How is purchasing is organised? Percentage of purchasing spend centrally controlled 31% 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 decisions 89% Yes Have you used a risk based approach? 10% Yes 26% Said students had influenced purchasing decisions

Current practice Supplier engagement 42% 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

jbrannigan@esdconsulting.co.uk www.eauc.org.uk Questions jbrannigan@esdconsulting.co.uk www.eauc.org.uk