Sustainable Procurement
The SPG (Sustainable Procurement Group), started as an AUPO eHEP working group and has developed its scope since then to include all aspects of sustainability and corporate responsibility as they relate to procurement. It changed its title in 2007 from the Corporate Social Responsibility Group (CSRG) to reflect changes in emphasis in the business world. The group has links to the AUPO Standards & Good Practice and Professional Development Groups.
The objective of the group is to assist people involved in procurement to understand the key aspects of sustainable procurement as it impacts on Universities and to provide support through the use of toolkits, guidance materials and the content of web links.
The group also commits itself to acting as the voice of the HE procurement community both within and outside of HE, in matters relating to sustainable procurement. It actively seeks to promote the key role procurement has to play in sustainable development activities and to raise the profile of procurement in such activities. The CSRG sat on the HEFCE advisory panel that reviewed the feedback to the HEFCE consultation document on Sustainability. The SPG Chair currently sits on the HEFCE Sustainable Development Steering Group. It will continue to involve itself in discussions with HEFCE and the other funding bodies across the UK as well as government and leading private and public sector sustainable procurement pioneers.
The team’s work includes appraisals of key focus areas such as ethics & fair trade, environmental impacts, social impacts, open trading and promotion of equality in purchasing.
The group seeks to avoid re-inventing the wheel and therefore utilises wherever possible, materials already created by other public and private organisations, where such materials are deemed of value to the HE purchasing community. It also seeks to work with other organisations related to the HE sector (such as the EAUC) on a collaborative basis to ensure that there is no duplication of effect from within the sector.
The AUPO Sustainable Procurement Group is currently a virtual/ad-hoc group with the only permanent member being the Chair of the Group - Alex McFarlane, Head of Purchasing at Nottingham Trent University.
A Sustainable Procurement Centre of Excellence for Higher Education (SPCE) has been established at the NEUPC. The primary aim of the SPCE is to be the one stop shop for information on sustainability and CSR for the sector and the AUPO SPG and members will work with the SPCE to continue the provision of best practice guidance on sustainability issues. It is anticipated that SPG members and other AUPO members will participate in piloting initiatives and testing tools and guidance. The Chair sits on the SPCE Steering Group.