Increasingly, governments in developed countries are looking to sustainable procurement to rescue their foundering economies under the guise of “green” or “sustainable” procurement.

The United Nations has recently published a statement to this effect: “As the most influential purchasers in a national economy, who spend typically 15% to 30% of GDP on a diverse and wide range of goods and services, governments can drive the market for sustainable products through their procurement policies”.

Although the logical leaps from procurement policy to job creation are not large, there is yet little evidence to suggest the best ways to undertake these programs.

For instance, should governments be focused in creating certain types of jobs (e.g., goods vs. services, different types of technologies, etc.)? And if so, how does that manifest in procurement policy? Will prioritizing a “greening of the economy” also result in successful sustainability outcomes for governments?

Nevertheless, below is an abbreviated list of some procurement strategies that are being used across the world to assist in a “greening of the economy”.

·         Engage the private sector and other stakeholders early on to better understand needs, capabilities, capacities, etc.

·         Build people capacity with training, information sharing and tools / methodologies.

·         Collect quick wins through pilot projects and build from your successes.

·         As always, consider alternatives to actually procuring the good or service: rethink need, use less, re-use, recycle, recover energy, negotiate end-of-life management options, etc.

·         Embed changes to procurement processes including naming of projects, specification definitions, evaluation methodologies and performance criteria.

·         Seeking joint buying to provide additional economic scale to smaller suppliers of sustainable technologies.

 

 

Tags: Procurement