Supplier eZine: an email newsletter from OGCbuying.solutions

Return to front cover

Focus on Sustainability

By OGCbuying.solutions

Tristan Hardman explains the role of the Buying Solutions Sustainability team.

Sustainability really matters to your public sector customers!

Suppliers who do not operate sustainably and do not offer truly sustainable products/services, cannot expect to win Buying Solutions contracts.

Sustainability is the hot topic in public sector procurement. Right across the public sector, organisations have challenging sustainable development goals to achieve.

procurement solutions for the public sector logo

These include environmental - ‘green’ - issues but also social and economic concerns. For example, government departments have to meet the SOGE (Sustainable Operations of the Government Estate) targets – which include waste, energy efficiency, recycling, and water consumption. Departments are required to be carbon neutral by 2012.

Government sees sustainable procurement is one of the key tools to reach these sustainability goals. In March it published the Sustainable Procurement Action Plan. Permanent Secretaries and Chief Executives will be accountable for ensuring progress and they will not want to see their organisations in the spotlight for poor performance!

To lead by example, Buying Solutions has made sustainability one of the key priorities for our own organisation. We have formed a new sustainability team, charged with embedding sustainability into everything we do. Sustainability will become an integral part of all our procurement activities.

We intend to work closely with suppliers in making these changes and – for example – to market sustainable products to our customers.

One thing you must know about (if you don't already) is the Sustainability Mandatory Standards also called ‘Quick Wins’. These are minimum specifications covering 54 commonly purchased products – including white and brown goods, IT hardware, wood products and building materials.

These standards are now mandatory for central government - if your products don't meet them, don't expect to sell them much longer! In Buying Solutions we are currently verifying which suppliers can meet which mandatory standards, and we will be actively marketing this information to customers.

When your contract manager contacts you about this, it's very much in your interests to let us know!

Sustainability offers a great opportunity to do business with the public sector. We know that many suppliers already take this as seriously as we do, and we look forwards to working with you to help public sector customers meet their sustainability goals.”

Back to top

© OGCbuying.solutions 2007

Printable version

Rate this article

This article has been rated by 1 users, with an average of 5.0.

In this edition