SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT STRATEGY

Transcription

1 SUSTAINABLE PROCUREMENT STRATEGY

2 What is sustainable procurement? Sustainable Procurement means improving the efficiency by which public money is spent whilst at the same time using market power to bring about major environmental and social benefits locally and globally. It is the process of purchasing goods, services and works that takes into account the social, economic and environmental impact that such purchasing has on people and communities whilst still achieving value. Background Both the EC and the UK Government have been working for a number of years on the provision of policies, guidance, and legislation to encourage publicly funded organisations to address the sustainability impacts of their purchases and to take advantage of their huge buying power. The objective being to not only drive down costs and achieve value for money, but also to influence suppliers to innovate and provide environmentally and socially beneficial goods and services. In response to these initiatives, the UK Government launched the Sustainable Procurement National Action Plan which aims to support all publicly funded organisations to:- reduce waste, carbon emissions, energy and water consumption protect biodiversity stop the buying of timber from unsustainable sources support fair and sustainable economic growth deliver social benefits through procurement The Action Plan provides guidance to ensure that public procurement fully contributes to sustainable development in the UK, reflecting the principles set out in the existing EU and domestic legal frameworks governing public procurement. The European legal framework for public procurement 1 has now clarified to an extent, when and how public purchasers can include environmental considerations in their procurement processes and procedures. In addition, a new set of British Standard guidelines Principles and framework for procuring sustainably (BS 8903:2010) was published at the end of August 2010 and provides guidance on how to implement sustainable practices into procurement processes. Aim The aim of this strategy is to outline the BBC s approach to sustainable procurement. The BBC spends in the region of 1.4 billion (excluding broadcast markets) per annum on the purchase of goods, services and works. In a climate of rapid environmental change, global supply chains and increasing awareness of social issues, it is important to use the BBC s buying power to mitigate the adverse effects that our purchases may make. Over the past few years, sustainable development in the BBC has focused on environmental green issues and an enormous amount of work has been done to implement measures to reduce carbon emissions, be more energy efficient, minimise waste and hit recycling targets. ever the principles of sustainable procurement are not just about buying green, they are instead based on a balance of social, economic and environmental considerations. The licence fee payer rightly expects the BBC to ensure that purchasing decisions are based not only on receiving value for money, but also that they ensure fairness, encourage diversity, act ethically and reduce the impact on the environment. 1 Directive 2004/18/EC 2

3 The three principles of sustainable development within procurement are illustrated below. Environmental Seeking to minimise any negative environmental impacts of goods and services purchased, across their life cycle from raw material extraction to end of life and supporting the principles set out in the BBC s Environmental Action Plan. Social Managing and monitoring supply chains to ensure that fair contract prices and terms are applied and that ethical, human rights and employment standards, as expressed in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) s Fundamental Conventions 2, are met. Economic The economic principle relates not only to obtaining value for money from our contracts, across the whole life of the product or service, but also ensuring as far as is possible under relevant procurement law, that local businesses, particularly Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME s) can benefit from our procurement processes in being able to supply the BBC where it is feasible for them to do so. Through tackling all three principles of sustainable procurement in the procurement process, we aim to embed these so that they eventually become an integral part of all relevant contracts, at pre-tender, tender and post-contract award stages (including monitoring and evaluation), through to the end of the life of the contract and including any disposal of equipment. 2 ILO Fundamental conventions Ref: en/index.htm 3

4 The Objectives This strategy is centred on the eight objectives below which will take the BBC from auditing current sustainable procurement activities (where they exist) to provide a baseline of the current position, through to developing sustainable contract criteria, performance monitoring and supply market development. 1. Carry out an audit of existing sustainability procurement provision within contracts 2. Carry out a sustainability risk assessment of all procurement categories, to use this to prioritise sustainable procurement strategies and to apply it to current and forthcoming contracts 3. Communicate to our suppliers that we procure sustainably and analyse any current supplier sustainability initiatives 4. Develop a whole life costing model to enable tenders to be evaluated on this basis 5. Develop sustainable procurement criteria and embed them into relevant tendering exercises 6. Ensure all procurement professionals understand the importance of sustainable procurement and are sufficiently trained in this area 7. Provide direction and guidance to divisions on sustainable procurement 8. Develop external networks to ensure best practice 4

5 Objective 1 To carry out an audit of existing sustainable procurement provision within contracts To provide a clear picture of the nature and extent of clauses that currently exist in specifications, contract terms & conditions, and KPIs. This will provide a baseline for drafting future KPIs and for measuring progress. Undertake an audit of the current contracts in respect of any existing sustainable procurement criteria, conditions and monitoring criteria. Information relating to each contract will be obtained via the contract management tool in Delphi (one of a suite of e-procurement tools used by Procurement). A clear indication of the sustainable procurement performance measures within existing contracts and a process for monitoring them, subjected to external audit validation. End of August 2011 Objective 2 To carry out a risk assessment exercise on current and forthcoming contracts To identify and evaluate sustainability implications in current and forthcoming contracts to enable sustainability criteria and targets to be developed and implemented to address key risk areas. A standard matrix will be used to map and evaluate the environmental, social and economic risk of the contract. This matrix will follow the Prioritisation Methodology mapping developed by the Sustainable Procurement Task Force and detailed in the Sustainable Procurement National Action Plan 3. Analysis will provide intelligence on areas for immediate attention i.e. quick wins and assist with planning to address those contracts where it is possible to achieve long term sustainability gains. Prioritised list of contracts that could have a sustainable procurement approach applied to them from the identification of need, through the tender exercise and to the contract terms and management. End of July Procuring the Future - Sustainable Procurement National Action Plan: Recommendations from the Sustainable Procurement Task Force 5

6 Objective 3 To communicate to our suppliers that we procure sustainably and analyse any current supplier sustainability initiatives To promote the BBC sustainable procurement policy, strategy and initiatives and to ensure that suppliers are fully engaged with the objectives at an early stage. This will help suppliers to understand the targets that the BBC will set for relevant tenders and to prepare them for successfully competing for contracts. Suppliers identified as providing services that were a high priority in the risk assessment analysis will be contacted and asked to complete and return a sustainability questionnaire that will provide the BBC with some basic information about supplier s current commitment to sustainability initiatives. The responses from the questionnaires will provide a baseline for the development of a continuous improvement plan for suppliers that will be monitored to track progress. External suppliers and the BBC working together to embed sustainable procurement criteria into contracts. Initial communications from September 2011 and ongoing. Objective 4 To develop a whole life costing model to enable tenders to be evaluated on this basis In order to achieve a balanced result, sustainable procurement needs to take into account the whole life costs of the goods, services or works which it is procuring. For example, whilst an item might look to be the optimum product in terms of user quality and price, it might have an unsustainable manufacturing process, long transport journeys and is not recyclable at the end of its life. There are two elements to this issue; firstly the actual cost of the product throughout its life (e.g. the actual costs of running a photocopier from purchase or lease, to toners and final disposal at the end of its useful life); and, secondly, a life cycle assessment of the sustainability impacts of a product from manufacturing and use to disposal. Work with external networks to identify robust costing models that can be adapted to suit the BBC s needs. Develop guidance as to how and when whole-life costing models should be used, to include appropriate stages in the procurement cycle and category-related guidance. A comprehensive model for Whole Life Costing and Assessment. End of December

7 Objective 5 To develop guidance to embed sustainable procurement criteria into relevant tendering exercises To develop appropriate guidance against which sustainable procurement criteria can be implemented and performance can be monitored, evaluated and reported on. Embedding sustainable procurement criteria into specifications and contract terms & conditions. Develop robust contract performance measurement processes and ensuring they are monitored against KPIs. Sustainability criteria and KPIs built into all relevant tendering exercises and contracts. Guidance to be ready for inclusion of sustainability in tender documents from December Objective 6 To ensure all procurement professionals understand the importance of sustainable procurement and are sufficiently trained in this area To raise the profile of sustainable procurement and the wider BBC s Environmental Action Plan. The provision of sustainable procurement training provided both internally and by external experts. Production and publication on Gateway of a sustainable procurement tool kit to support staff. All staff understand and promotes the need for sustainable procurement. Training by end of February 2011 and the sustainable procurement tool kit by March

8 Objective 7 To provide direction and guidance to divisions on sustainable procurement To ensure that there is sufficient knowledge and understanding of the objectives and to provide expert advice to divisional procurement projects. Ensure sustainable procurement objectives are detailed in Category Action Plans and subsequently shared with key internal stakeholders. To keep updated on new initiatives and EU guidance and share that information with stakeholders via the BBC s intranet pages. Promote the use of sustainable procurement criteria to stakeholders at the commencement of procurement exercises and encourage them to engage in the process. Stakeholders kept informed and updated and are supported by procurement experts when carrying out procurement exercises. November 2010 and on-going as other objective target dates are met and guidance needs to be re-aligned. Objective 8 To develop external networks to ensure best practice Although the output of the BBC is very different from that of local or central government, there is a great deal that the BBC can learn from other public bodies and private sector organisations, many of whom are further advanced in their sustainable procurement plans. It is very much in the BBC s interest to develop networks in order to share its best practice and to take advantage of the experience of others. Use existing connections with other public bodies and private sector organisations, input into sustainable procurement forums, join established networking groups such as the Strategic Supply Chain Group (SSGC). Attend sustainable procurement conferences, workshops and events. To be constantly up to date with current legislation, best practice and new initiatives. Already commenced and will be on-going. 8