27 February 2017 
Emma Keenan, Procurement Specialist
Advanced Procurement for Universities (APUC) Supply Chain Sustainability assessment tool ‘Sustain’ is moving forward at a rapid rate, with over 40 supplier assessments underway, or completed.
The tool was developed by APUC to assess the sector's supply chain compliance against the APUC Code of Conduct (developed by APUC and a sector working group consisting of student reps, NUS, People & Planet, Procurement and Environmental staff). The web tool enables contract managers to ‘invite’ suppliers to complete the assessment, which is then verified by SA8000 Advanced Auditors. The real crux being that the tool is linked to the sector's ‘Hunter’ Contracts Database, therefore pulling contract data into one login for suppliers, reducing duplication of effort and pulling together a collaborative view. The tool also enables sub-tier supply chains to be added and assessed.
The web tool is being constantly enhanced to bring additional benefits to contract managers and suppliers alike. To date, suppliers have been invited as a result of APUC’s framework agreement prioritisation exercise (assessing ethical and environmental risks and opportunities), and the next stage is issuing contract manager logins to APUC’s members to enable institutional contracted suppliers to be invited. To find out more please contact Emma Nicholson, APUC’s Head of Development and Sustainability.
