12. October 2007 by admin.

eGov monitor
Council buying power helps save the planet and boosts local communities
Source: Peterborough City Council
The ‘buying power’ of local authorities can help save the planet while giving a boost to local communities, delegates to a ‘sustainable procurement’ conference being hosted by Peterborough City Council will be told on Monday 15 October.

The city council will present one of 10 case studies that will demonstrate the environmental and financial benefits of modern buying policies during the conference that will be attended by representatives from national and local government organisations.

Delegates will be welcomed to the day-long conference at the Key Theatre by city council chief executive Gillian Beasley. She said: “Nationally the public sector spends £150 billion on buying goods and services from external suppliers and English councils represent £42 billion of that total.

“Local authorities can therefore use their buying power to influence the manufacture and performance of these products, leading to social, economic and environmental benefits.

“Hosting this conference builds on Peterborough’s status as an Environment City and a sustainable transport demonstration town.”

The conference will primarily focus on the sustainable procurement successes being achieved by local authorities in the East of England with other examples being showcased by Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Thurrock, Luton, Bedfordshire and Southend.

Peterborough will highlight three projects:

• The adoption of software that can automatically update and switch off the council’s 2,500 computers at night, saving an estimated £50,000 and 250 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually through reduced electricity usage.

• Replacement of desktop printers, fax machines and photocopiers with ‘multi-functional devices’ that automatically print on both sides of paper and offer better cost controls; an estimated 25 per cent saving on paper usage; and a reduction in energy consumption.

• The Electrical Appliance Recycling Programme EARP, which repairs electrical goods for re-sale to needy families or recycles re-usable components while also providing useful work-related training for people seeking employment.

The city council’s procurement project director Adam Jacobs added: “Sustainable procurement has the potential to offer wider social, economic and environmental benefits. It is a hot topic, given the government’s ambition for the UK to be a European Union leader in this sector by 2009.

“An independent, business-led Sustainable Procurement Task Force published its first report in June 2006 and the government published its own action plan in March 2007. A local authority action plan is also expected shortly.”

The Peterborough conference is being supported by the North East Centre of Excellence, which takes the lead on sustainable procurement for all nine local government regional centres of excellence in England.

Delegates include representatives from local authorities in the East of England, Government Office for the East of England GO-East, the East of England Development Agency, the Audit Commission, Envirowise which delivers government-funded advice to UK businesses and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Defra.

Posted in Government Procurement, Sustainable Procurement | 1 Comment »

14. September 2007 by admin.

Scoop: Making the public service more sustainable

NZ, Aust join to make public service more sustainable

The New Zealand and Australian governments today established the first trans-Tasman joint framework for sustainable government procurement to ensure that public sector organisations in both countries consider the environmental credentials of goods and services they buy.

Commerce Minister Lianne Dalziel, as minister in charge of the New Zealand government’s procurement policy, met with her Australian counterparts in Melbourne today to launch the Australian and New Zealand Government Framework for Sustainable Procurement.

The move to work with the Australians on sustainable procurement follows the New Zealand government’s recent announcement on its own mandated environmental standards, guidelines and targets for the public service.

“New Zealand welcomes the opportunity to collaborate with the Australian state, territorial and federal governments through the Australian Procurement and Construction Council on this important issue. The threat of climate change has clearly demonstrated that the world must use its resources carefully. Governments in both countries are taking the lead to ensure that the purchase of goods and services by government are more sustainable,” Lianne Dalziel said.

The Framework provides a set of guiding principles and best practice examples for public sector organisations. It will encourage the sharing of experience between governments in both countries and ensure economic, environmental and social considerations are taken into account.

“The sustainability imperative means that we must emphasise the economic, environmental and social impacts of goods and services over their entire lifecycle as part of the value-for-money assessment. In addition, we drive the production of environmentally-friendly and sustainable goods and services. Sustainable procurement and innovation go hand in hand,” Lianne Dalziel said.

Participation in the joint Australia New Zealand Framework is part of New Zealand’s Sustainable Government Procurement Project, one of six government initiatives that will help lead New Zealand towards greater economic, environmental and social sustainability in its resource use and way of life.

To view the Framework, or for more information on sustainable procurement, please visit www.procurement.govt.nz.

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4. September 2007 by admin.

Scoop: Eco-systems die while Government Fiddles.
Eco-systems die while Government Fiddles.

Press Release: Green Party
Ancient eco-systems of Pacific and SE Asia die while Govt. fiddles

New government rules aimed at helping to slow widespread devastation of ancient “paradise forests” in South East Asia and the Pacific only go part way, says Greens Co-Leader Russel Norman.

He says the Green Party welcomes the Government’s new “sustainable procurement guidelines” just released but is disappointed they will still allow government departments to purchase tropical timber products from a source that the procurement policy itself defines as unsustainable.

“The new sustainable procurement policy is welcome and makes progress in many areas,” Dr Norman says.

“However, it is absurd that the government guide to sustainable procurement endorses the Malaysian Timber Certification Council MTCC scheme as meeting all the `legal sourcing and sustainably managed requirements p.12 when the table on the very next page reveals that the MTCC scheme certifies timber that is not sustainable and only legal under certain conditions. See the pdf of the document here.

“The Government’s own report says MTCC certified timber is not sustainable and not always legal, so why does MTCC certified timber get the tick of approval for sustainable procurement?”

Dr Norman says it is important to get these government guidelines right because they may be used as a guideline for all New Zealanders trying to avoid purchases of tropical timbers such as kwila. New Zealands trade in kwila often entails human rights abuses and destruction of rare eco-systems and unique wildlife in West Papua and Papua New Guinea, where Malaysian loggers are prominent.

“The Norwegian Government banned the use of all tropical timber in their sustainable procurement policy released just two months ago because of the difficulties in ascertaining whether any tropical timber is legal and sustainable. Yet here is the New Zealand Government not only allowing the use of questionable tropical timber but actually endorsing one of the guaranteed unsustainable sources of tropical timber, MTCC certified timber.

“Malaysian logging companies have a long record of illegal and unsustainable clearing of rainforests throughout Asia and the Pacific. Many reports, including from the World Bank, have linked the Malaysian logging company Rimbunan Hijau to illegal and unsustainable logging and the human rights abuses of those indigenous people who dared to stand up against Rimbunan, including in PNG and West Papua where most of our kwila is thought to come from.

“For the New Zealand Government to endorse the sustainability of the Malaysian logging is an affront to all those people who have fought Malaysia’s rapacious loggers. The sustainable procurement policy should ban the use of all tropical timber in government projects until we have some idea that the timber is genuinely sustainable and legal, just as the Norwegian Government has done.”

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18. July 2007 by admin.

Scoop: Public service must go green, not waste spending
Public service must go green, not waste spending
Monday, 16 July 2007, 11:49 am
Press Release: Business Council for Sustainable Development
16 July 2007

Media Release

Public service must go green of face exposure over wasteful spending

The world is going green and the public service wont and cant be separate from that, a carbon neutral public sector conference is being told today.

While moves to have government departments go carbon neutral, introduce sustainable procurement, lease green buildings and buy low emission vehicles might sound cool and trendy, they are also delivering savings for taxpayers and freeing funds for more effective use elsewhere, the Chief Executive of the New Zealand Business Council for Sustainable Development, Peter Neilson, says in opening remarks to the two-day conference at Wellington.

Mr Neilson says property owner Bob Jones is wrong when he says this is a short term fad.

After a slow start, a sleeping giant is rising in the public sector:

• The Govt3 sustainable procurement programme is gaining momentum
• Even the Treasury is able to win an award for halving the amount of rubbish it produces
• Departments and agencies are monitoring their waste and carbon footprints
• Face to face meetings are being replaced with state-of-the-art video conferencing, reducing air travel
• Six agencies are leading off a programme to become carbon neutral
• More fuel efficient and low emissions vehicles are being purchased.

“This is no short term fad. It reflects a worldwide trend in developed countries for taxpayers and consumers to want both a better material standard of living and better quality of life. People increasingly want to buy products and work for organisations that respect people and the environment,” Mr Neilson says.

He cites cases in which Business Council members are making dramatic production gains while substantially cutting emissions and energy costs.

At the Bluff aluminium smelter industrial process investments and energy efficiency projects have seen production rise 25% and emissions cut by 40% since 1990 – the equivalent to keeping 40,000 tonnes of CO2 a year out of the atmosphere, or taking 120,000 cars off the road.

Saving and production gains are worth millions.

Mr Neilson says 70% of business people polled by the Business Council support creating a green public sector procurement policy. 71% say they will support moves by Government to make sustainable procurement mandatory for Government agencies.

He advised public servants: “Run with and benefit from this tide. Try holding it back at your peril. Public and business expectations for sustainable procurement are already well ahead of practice delivery by the public sector.

“Expect increasing intolerance of environmentally damaging and wasteful buying decisions in the public sector. Future scandals will see wasteful practices exposed. Why would you waste millions in public money buying inefficient light bulbs on day-one price? Why would you pay the same to stay with a hotel chain not engaging in sustainable heating, water conservation and lighting practices when you have the choice to go elsewhere and do the right thing?”

Mr Neilson also told public servants to expect sustainability performance measures and reviews to become part of their employment contracts, specially for CEOs.

“Carbon neutral behaviour will become the new benchmark and part of business as usual.”

There will also be a “sea change” in small to medium businesses sustainable practice when Government procurement contracts go green, with additional weightings in favour of sustainable suppliers, during the next year.

Peter Neilsons speech to the Towards a Sustainable Public Sector conference is at www.nzbcsd.org.nz, along with the latest polling on public and business views on how the country should respond to climate change.

Posted in Government Procurement, Sustainable Procurement | No Comments »

22. June 2007 by admin.

CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT Council direct staff as Phase I of the development of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy, to prepare and present a draft policy to Council on the purchase of apparel and fair trade agricultural products. The policy is to be based on best practices of similar organizations and to be implemented by December, 2004. Staff will also report on resources required to implement the policy.

B. THAT Council direct staff, on a Phase II work plan to report back by December, 2004 including resource requirements for developing and implementing a comprehensive Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy that incorporates environmental and social objectives as well as aligns with other sustainability initiatives including the Downtown Eastside Economic Revitalization Plan, the City of Vancouver Sustainability office objectives and objectives of the Inner City Inclusive Commitment Statement for the 2010 Winter Games.

On April 8, 2004, Council resolved that The City of Vancouver will have a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy in place by December, 2004. Council directed appropriate staff to report back with answers to six specific questions in relation to the resolution.

CITY MANAGER’S COMMENTS

The City Manager concurs with the recommendations in this report.

The scope of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy is very large, potentially affecting all City operations and affecting every purchasing decision of all goods and services. The development of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy must be aligned with values of other initiatives such as the 2010 Olympics Sustainability Objectives, the City of Vancouver Sustainability office objectives and the Vancouver Agreement’s DES revitalization program. The City will need time and resources to build internal capacity to implement and administer a sustainable procurement strategy.

At the same time, organizations have just begun to develop procurement practices that address sustainability issues so there is limited experience and knowledge to draw upon. Existing experience indicates that implementation of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy is a long term undertaking. A well developed strategy that is meaningful and effective will require that the City take an incremental approach establishing clear objectives, realistic targets and achievable time lines.

The implementation of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy over two phases starting with a focus on Ethical Procurement as defined in this report. This approach is consistent with the strategy of other municipalities that have only focused on purchasing apparel and related products that have been manufactured in a way that does not violate standards set by the International Labour Organization.

There will be a need for additional staff resources to assist with the implementation of an Ethical and Sustainable Procurement Policy. The resources will be used to develop mechanisms to monitor compliance and for working collaboratively with suppliers to ensure there is no disruption of goods and services critical to the City’s operations.

One year after implementation, staff will report back to Council on the financial and service impacts of the policy on City purchases.

COUNCIL POLICY

Council policies indirectly related to the issue of sustainable and ethical procurement include:

· Corporate Climate Change Action PlanThat staff report back on opportunities to establish an Energy Efficient Purchasing Policy by September 2004, and in the interim purchase Energy Star rated equipment and appliances where applicable;

· Contracts Goods and Services Policy - Environmentally Sound Purchasing

In order to contribute to waste reduction and to increase the development and awareness of environmentally sound purchasing of goods and services, contracts and tender specifications should be reviewed to ensure that wherever possible and economical, specifications provide for expanded use of durable products, reusable products, and products that contain the maximum level of post-consumer waste and/or recyclable content or that minimize environmental impacts.

This Report is submitted in response to Council direction to report on questions related to implementation of a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy.

On April 8, 2004, Council declared “its intention to implement a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy for the City of Vancouver before the end of the 2004 calendar year”, and resolved that “appropriate City staff be directed to report to Council within two months of the passage of this resolution on questions related to implementation of such a policy for City purchases of apparel, coffee and related items”.

DISCUSSION

1. Introduction

This report answers the questions asked by Council. It is understood that the intention of Council is to adopt a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy “that will ensure that all items, including apparel, coffee and related items, purchased by the City are manufactured or grown in accordance with established international codes of conduct regarding wages, workplace health and safety, forced labour, child labour and freedom of association, as embodied in the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights and International Labour Organization Conventions”.

2. Staff Investigations and Research

As a part of the context for drafting a response to the Resolution of April 8, 2004 the following actions were taken:

On April 27, 2004, the City purchasing department convened a panel consisting of representatives from Vancouver Fire and Rescue, Vancouver Park Board, Vancouver Public Library, the Office of Sustainability, the Office of the Mayor, Purchasing, Central Stores, and Business Support Services. The purpose was to provide administration staff with increased awareness and sensitivity directly from a diverse set of stakeholders on the subject of ethical procurement and sustainability.

Presentations were made by local and national apparel suppliers, along with the Vancouver Fair Trade Coffee & Network, the BC & Yukon Building & Construction Trades Council, the BC Ethical Purchasing Group, the Social Purchasing Portal, Mountain Equipment Co-op, Vancouver City Savings Credit Union, and corporate social responsibility advisors.

Policies and practices of other local governments have been reviewed including Seattle’s innovative Copernicus model for local economic, environmental, and social development and policies of Toronto, Thunder Bay and Nanaimo as specific Canadian-based references. Experiences of Canadian universities were analyzed as well.

City Staff also attended the Simon Fraser University Ethical Purchasing Conference on May 7-8, 2004 to discuss the issues related to ethical purchasing policy development and implementation.

Discussions were held with other City departments regarding complimentary initiatives that related to ethical and sustainable purchasing to identify common interests, potential alliances and operational synergies.

3. Definitions

There is no single definition of Ethical Procurement. Ethical Procurement has been defined by the Ethical Trading Action Group as practices that “promote humane labour practices based on accepted international labour standards.” Usage varies, but ethical purchasing policies consistently include “no sweat”, often extend to “fair trade” and sometimes include sustainable practices.

The Canadian Labour Congress has described “no sweat” as follows: “Retailers and manufacturers are increasingly outsourcing the manufacture of their apparel products, searching the globe for the lowest waged production facilities and the most lax enforcement of labour regulations; and this race to the bottom is negatively affecting the jobs and bargaining power of Canadian organized garment workers and encouraging the spread of sweatshop practices in Canada; and employers purchase a significant amount of apparel products, including staff uniforms, and could therefore help eliminate sweatshop abuses by requiring that those products are made under humane working conditions, preferably in union shops.”

Fair Trade principles address the purchase of agricultural products, primarily coffee, tea, cocoa and sugar grown in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Transfair Canada states that “Canadian importers and distributors must follow certain criteria: pay a set minimum price that covers the costs of production, advance payments or extend credit to producers to help avoid debt while financing next year’s production, agree to longer term trading relationships that provide producers with added security to plan for the future and promote sustainable production practices.” Sustainable practices would include “shade grown” coffee plants grown with organic farming methods.

Sustainable Procurement has been defined by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) as “the process in which organizations buy supplies or services by taking into account: the best value for money considerations such as, price, quality, availability, functionality, etc.; environmental aspects (”green procurement”: the effects on the environment that the product and/or service has over its whole lifecycle, from cradle to the grave); the entire Life Cycle of products; social aspects: effects on issues such as poverty eradication, international equity in the distribution of resources, labour conditions, human rights.”

Environmental/Green Procurement means goods and services purchased must be evaluated by environmental criteria that address recycled content, efficient use of resources, use of renewable rather than non-renewable resources, energy efficiency and waste and emissions in their manufacture. Food products purchased must be healthy - without biological or chemical contaminants, environmentally beneficial or benign in their production, and compliant with animal welfare standards.

Social and local procurement considerations state that ethical, fair trade and environmental principles apply most directly at home - within and around the City of Vancouver. Effective procurement can stimulate economic development in City communities such as the Downtown Eastside by integrating supply chain economics with corporate social responsibility to achieve community benefits.

Answers to Council Questions

The April 8 Council Resolution asked staff to report back with answers to six specific questions:

i) “What is the extent, purpose and value of city procurement of items that may be affected by this policy?”Annual apparel purchases are about $1.4 million - 48% by Vancouver Police Department, 39% by Fire and Rescue, and 9% by Engineering Services.

The City purchases about $3.7 million in food each year. The principal corporate buyers of food are Parks and Recreation, which sells food products through park concessions and golf courses, and the Community Services Group, which provides meals at Carnegie and Evelyn Saller Centres and at Gathering Place.

A comprehensive sustainable and ethical procurement policy could potentially apply to all City purchases, of all commodities, across all City Boards and Departments, amounting to between $150 million to $200 million each year.

ii) “What information does the City have now on the place and conditions of manufacture of these items?”

Current information is very limited. A few direct suppliers of apparel and apparel-related products (Claymore Clothes (1982) Ltd., Logotex Mfg. Ltd. and Tristart Cap & Garment Ltd.) have voluntarily provided information. The information provided by the suppliers gave no indication of any problems related to ethical purchasing. This information has not been verified because the City does not currently have a mechanism to do the verification.

The number of companies that report voluntarily is growing. The feasibility of obtaining third-party verification of these reports has yet to be determined. Mountain Equipment Co-op uses inspectors to review the manufacturing processes of suppliers, but such a commitment from the City would be extraordinary and likely not practical given the relatively small scale and scope of City procurement.

iii) “What would be the procedures under which a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy for the City of Vancouver could be implemented?”

A policy addressing “no sweat” and “fair trade” can build upon the work of other organizations and adopt generally accepted standards. Existing policies of other organizations, such as the Maquila Solidarity Network’s “Model No Sweat Municipal Purchasing Policy” or Mountain Equipment Co-op’s “Sourcing Policy” can be customized and adapted to meet specific City of Vancouver requirements.

Initial implementation steps include requiring suppliers to sign off on the policy to create awareness and secure consent, obtaining disclosure of subcontractors and manufacturing locations and resolving related issues, establishing principles for monitoring and verification, defining reporting requirements, establishing complaint and investigation processes, and defining corrective action plans.

A policy cannot reasonably extend to every product and every supplier in every area of the City simultaneously. Effort must be initially concentrated on those procurement areas where worthwhile results may be achieved directly and immediately. These areas are to ensure that apparel purchased by the City is manufactured in conditions compliant with International Labour Organization conventions¹, and that coffee and other food purchased by the City is produced under Fair Trade conditions.

Legal review and participation is an essential element in procurement policy formulation.

A broad policy that additionally encompasses environmental and green procurement and social and local procurement would require a more sophisticated development process, featuring extensive consultation and participation among both internal and external City stakeholders.

iv) “What mechanisms, if any, are in place now to ensure that suppliers to the City of Vancouver are in compliance with International Labour Organization standards?”

The City purchasing department primarily focuses attention on direct suppliers, ensuring that where required they have a local business licence and have WCB clearance. No mechanisms are in place to ensure suppliers and any foreign or domestic subcontractors or distributors in the supply chain are in compliance with international labour standards.

v) “What other relevant factors or costs might be involved in the implementation of such a policy?”

A measured and cautious approach and carefully phased implementation will be necessary to address the sheer scale and distributed nature of City procurement activities adequately, and ensure that the critical supplier relationships essential for effective service delivery are not disrupted.

Also time must be given and assistance provided to help suppliers develop policy and reporting capabilities. City suppliers generally express willingness to comply with an ethical procurement policy, but request a notification period to give time to prepare. Suppliers caution that a too-sudden policy introduction could leave the City without sources of fully-compliant products. An additional supplier concern is the cost of compliance, particularly if certification must be purchased from third-party compliance auditors.

Cost may be incurred by the City as assistance may be required from auditing agencies, if feasible, to ensure that products supplied from third world countries meet international standards.

Leading organizations such as Mountain Equipment Co-op have begun to address the full range of ethical practices of their suppliers. The scope of this industry scrutiny is evolving, but so far is applied to few suppliers, and across a narrow range of products. However, a City effort could potentially gain considerable leverage by coordinating policy implementation phases with the steadily developing efforts of other organizations.

In addition to a phased approach, a second essential implementation requirement is pro-activity - working incrementally with a deficient supplier to encourage and reward improved practices. This approach can prevent disruption of the supplier relationships essential for City service delivery, and is ultimately more effective in achieving policy goals. Otherwise, if the City takes its business elsewhere, supplier practices will probably remain unchanged.

An illustration of the difficulty in applying a broader scope policy is purchase of jackets. Jackets must be manufactured under conditions compliant with International Labour Organization conventions. Embroidered crests must be similarly ILO compliant. But additionally, the jackets include components such as zippers, manufactured by another supplier. Fabric involves yet another supplier. Each individual supplier must be identified and evaluated not only on an ethical “no sweat” basis.

An ethical procurement policy could potentially have financial consequences. Cost of purchases may increase, and so may the time required to obtain those purchases. Additional administrative staff resources may be required, and it may be necessary to purchase third-party verification of vendor reports.

vi) “How are other municipalities/cities, such as Nanaimo and Toronto, and universities, such as Simon Fraser University, implementing a similar policy?”

Ethical procurement policies of Toronto, Thunder Bay and Nanaimo focus exclusively on banning the purchase of sweatshop-manufactured apparel. Policies are generally applied by requiring vendors to certify, when tendering, that apparel products are not produced under sweatshop conditions. The policies do not contain enforcement mechanisms beyond the legal principles that underlie any contract. Similarly, the policies do not provide for audit, verification or inspection of vendor certification. The policies were recently introduced, mostly in the past year, and infractions have yet to be encountered. Presumably any future complaints will be reviewed with the vendors by the municipality, with further escalation to legal avenues if required.

Nanaimo City Council passed a policy in 2003 which states that the City will “place a

term in its tenders, specifically for apparel for City employees. This term will advise suppliers that the City of Nanaimo does not wish to encourage the purchase of products manufactured in factories where children are used as slave labour or other exploitive circumstances that impede child development. This term holds the supplier to the commitment by asking the supplier to confirm in writing, compliance of this term in the bid response.”In 2002, Toronto City Council approved “a purchasing policy that will require the City to buy its uniforms and other apparel items from “no sweat manufacturers” that respect the rights of their workers regarding working conditions and pay”. The Toronto policy similarly depends on pledges signed by vendors.

Also in 2002, Thunder Bay Council passed a resolution requiring a “condition of contract” with respect to No Sweat Procurement. This condition of contract would advise suppliers that the City of Thunder Bay does not wish to encourage the purchase of products manufactured in factories where children are used as slave labour or other exploitive circumstances which impedes child development. The recommended condition of contract holds the supplier to this commitment by asking them to confirm in writing, compliance of this directive in their bid response. The City of Thunder Bay requires bidders for the supply of linens, textiles, uniforms, shoes or any product where possible exploitation of children in sweat shops exist to sign the “condition of contract” as part of their bid.

As of May 2004, ten universities across Canada have adopted ethical procurement policies. The majority of policies apply to retail book store operations only. Simon Fraser University has appointed an Ethical Purchasing Policy Task Force to work towards adopting a “No Sweat” and Fair Trade purchasing policy for products bought and sold at the university.

The University of Toronto became one of the first Canadian universities to develop a code of conduct for trademark licensees to ensure that manufacturers and suppliers of trademarked merchandise for resale through retail operations meet minimum employment standards regarding wages and benefits, working hours and overtime compensation. The code also has specific prohibitions on child labour, forced labour and harassment and requires licensees and their contractors to recognize and respect the right of employees to freedom of association and collective bargaining. The University of Toronto’s code, and the parallel efforts of McMaster University took more than three years to develop. The University adopted an approach that engages with current suppliers and uses the code for future contracts, once current contracts expire. Compliance and disclosure requirements have been implemented throughout the acquisition process. The university places an emphasis on working with non-compliant suppliers to address concerns and issues.

The City can, as a first phase, adopt the same approach as other organizations to focus first on an Ethical Procurement policy. This policy requiring vendors to certify that apparel is “no sweat” can readily be extended to certification that agricultural products are “fair trade”, and enforced in the same manner.

Such a policy would be “sustainable” as well as “ethical” in the sense that fair trade practices are not just fair to growers but also environmentally-friendly, and sweatshops may abuse not just their workers but the environment as well.

CONCLUSION

Council has resolved that the City will have a Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy in place by the end of 2004. It is evident that the policy must address the basic principles of ethical purchasing, by ensuring that apparel is not purchased from sweatshops and that coffee and other agricultural products are acquired from fair trade suppliers.

It is suggested that Council direct staff to prepare and present a draft policy for Council review to address the purchase of apparel and fair trade agricultural products in a manner similar to that of other local governments. Staff can report back at the same time on resources required to implement the recommended policy. After the policy has been in effect for one year, staff will be in a better position to assess the financial and service impact the policy has had on City purchases and report back to Council.

Council can direct staff, as a subsequent phase to prepare a procurement policy that includes not only sweatshops and fair trade, but goes much further to integrate a comprehensive range of environmental and broad social objectives. Such a policy is a considerably more complex undertaking, and will require a coordinated effort with other ongoing City initiatives and organizations.

The City will also need time and resources to build the internal capacity necessary to develop, implement and optimize a comprehensive sustainable and ethical policy. Efforts must be cautious and aim at making steady incremental change in supply chain relationships over time.

Key stakeholders must be engaged in policy development and implementation and suppliers must become partners in solutions. A stakeholder approach to policy development will ensure that the complementary and competing interests of key groups will be considered and that an approach to implementation can be agreed upon that will ultimately be both administratively practical and meaningful.

A Sustainable and Ethical Procurement Policy will be complimentary to other City initiatives such as the Sustainability strategic action plan, green building policy and Corporate Climate Change Action Plan. Therefore, the development and implementation of a comprehensive procurement policy will depend in part on coordination with the work being done on these other initiatives.

Posted in Government Procurement, Local Procurement, Social Procurement, Ethical Procurement, Green Procurement, Sustainable Procurement | No Comments »

19. June 2007 by admin.

Buying from social enterprises simple, effective and positive

Posted in Government Procurement, Responsible Procurement, Social Procurement, Sustainable Procurement | No Comments »

17. June 2007 by admin.

Scoop: Sustainability to guide govt spending Dalziel says
Sustainability to guide govt spending Dalziel says
Thursday, 14 June 2007, 3:39 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Government
14 June 2007

Sustainability to guide govt spending Dalziel says

Commerce minister Lianne Dalziel has welcomed the establishment of a New Zealand branch of an international organisation for procurement professionals.

The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (CIPS), which held its inaugural New Zealand conference in Auckland today, aims to promote best practice and quality standards as well as raising awareness of the effective contribution the management of supply markets makes to corporate, national and international prosperity.

“Linking New Zealand practitioners into a global community of over 42,000 members in 120 countries has got to be good for the profession,” Lianne Dalziel told the conference.

“The Labour-led government is looking to the procurement professional community as a whole to help achieve our sustainable development goals.

“We’re integrating sustainability into a single government procurement policy and implementing a national framework for sustainable procurement by setting standards and developing sustainability performance indicators, targets and reporting mechanisms, and developing a carbon costing methodology for procurement decisions.

“In some areas, government is the single biggest customer in the domestic market,” Lianne Dalziel said.

“We’re looking at different ways New Zealand companies can benefit from the opportunities offered by government procurement.

“Procurement decisions should be based on best value for the taxpayer’s dollar over whole-of-life and this won’t always mean the lowest price is the determining factor.

“New Zealand companies sometimes feel they are overlooked because they represent local innovation rather than a well known international brand.

“One option for ensuring New Zealand companies get full and fair consideration is to require departments to give reasons for rejecting a local tender, signed off at senior management level,” Lianne Dalziel said.

“We need to consider the additional benefits that arise when home-grown innovation can foot it on home ground as a step up to the world stage.”

Posted in Government Procurement, Sustainable Procurement | No Comments »

14. June 2007 by admin.

Ottawa takes step toward ‘ethical purchasing’ policy

Tobin Dalrymple, Ottawa Citizen
A report outlining the city’s ethical purchasing policy, which aims to ensure a “sweat-free” and fair-trade friendly Ottawa, was accepted Tuesday by a committee without any issue or debate.

The policy will now go to council later this month, and if it passes that point, will set-up a criteria for who the city will deal with. The policy makes clients who make clothing and agricultural products disclose the location and standards of its factories to make sure they are in line with international human-rights standards.

The city spends about $1.7-million a year on garments for its workers, including bus drivers, firefighters and by-law officers. Stakeholders who wrote the “no sweat” policy say it will focus primarily on preventing companies using sweat-shop labour from winning city contracts.

But the policy will also bring fair-trade products, such as coffee and tea, to municipal cafeterias.

Ottawa could be the fourth major city in Canada to adopt an ethical purchasing policy if it gets council’s green light following Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary.

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14. June 2007 by admin.

New Zealand ‘CIPS’ Strategic Procurement Forum opening address: Excerpts

Thursday, 14 June 2007

Hon Lianne Dalziel
Minister of Commerce

SkyCity Convention Centre , Auckland

Good morning. It is a pleasure as Minister of Commerce to welcome everyone to this, the first New Zealand Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply ‘CIPS’ Conference.

I accepted the invitation to do so, in order to say how pleased I am that New Zealand now has its own branch of CIPS, and how important that is to the government’s agenda – both in terms of procurement generally and in terms of sustainability in particular. Linking New Zealand procurement practitioners into a global community of over 42,000 members in 120 countries has got to be good for the profession…..

Key priorities for the group this year include incorporating sustainability principles into the government procurement policy and extending the scope of this policy beyond core departments….

To guide the application of sustainability principles, a national sustainable procurement framework leveraging off best-practice initiatives overseas is being developed. This framework will help provide consistency across government and guide the implementation of initiatives that relate to sustainable procurement.

Sustainable procurement is one of a package of six projects developed in the context of the government’s aim to make New Zealand the first truly sustainable nation, and the need for long term sustainability strategies to meet the challenges New Zealand faces in the 21st century….

the project that will be of particular interest is enhanced sustainable procurement. This is again led by the Ministry of Economic Development. It builds on progress made by the Ministry for the Environment’s Govt3 programme in achieving the necessary “cultural change” within the public sector to recognise and embed sustainability factors in procurement decisions.As well as integrating sustainability into a single government procurement policy and implementing a national framework for sustainable procurement, this project involves setting standards for sustainable procurement; developing sustainability performance indicators, targets and reporting mechanisms; and implementing a carbon costing methodology for procurement decisions.

By September this year specific standards will be mandated across public service departments. These include: paper (including recycled content and default duplexing); timber and wood products (to ensure they are legally sourced); travel (for motor vehicles and air travel versus video conferencing); and light fittings (for energy efficiency). These will be rolled out to the wider state sector over longer timeframes. A wider range of sustainability standards will be developed over time targeting areas of greatest impact, such as buildings, ICT equipment, white goods, textiles, uniforms and cleaning products.
The Ministry of Economic Development will work closely with the Ministry for the Environment, the State Services Commission, and the Treasury to develop sustainable procurement key performance indicators and targets for inclusion in agency performance agreements….

We know that building capability is critical for the successful implementation of the new single procurement policy and creating a shared understanding of sustainable procurement across the wider state sector. Adoption of the existing government procurement policy has not been as fast as we would like, and adherence to it has been somewhat patchy, largely as a result of the variation in procurement practice and capability amongst departments.

The Government Procurement Development Group understands the need to attract and retain procurement professionals and raise their professional status. The Group is working closely with CIPS as the peak procurement professional body for New Zealand procurement practitioners and professionals. It also endorses the MCIPS International Standard as a certification level that procurement practitioners will be encouraged to aspire to….

I hope you get a lot out of today’s forum and I look forward to seeing the results of your determination to lift the bar when it comes to sustainable government procurement.

Full transcript of the speech available at:

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0706/S00252.htm

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