| Building sustainability in to your procurements |
It’s easy to build sustainability into your procurements – you just need to think carefully about what you want to buy and how you want to buy it.
In the past, quality and cost were the by words of the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) but the rise of the sustainability agenda has meant that whole life costing and community benefits should be thought about at the earliest opportunity.
You need to decide which economic, social or environmental considerations are pertinent to what it is you want to procure and then consider how you can include them as core requirements to your tender and how you can monitor them. Alternatively, you can add them as secondary or additional requirements but you will be unable to score them in the process or enforce them.
The Forum for the Future has developed a toolkit to help you to consider all the costs relating to your procurement exercise.
Click here to access it. http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/files/SP_Tool_Guidance.pdf
The accompanying report, Buying a Better World, can also be downloaded (http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/node/1408) - if you haven't seen a copy already.
The balanced scorecard approach might help you evaluate your procurement exercise. Click here to see an example…..(coming soon).
