• Introduction
• Procurement strategy
• The catering Services and Food Supply Procurement process
• Advertising your requirement
• Pre Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ)
• Evaluation of PQQ
• Invitation to tender (ITT)
• Costing options
• Evaluation of ITT submissions
• Contract Management.

www.defra.gov.uk/farm/policy/sustain/procurement/toolkit.htm

Procura+ aims to achieve tangible improvements for the global environment, based on targets that local political decision makers set for their administrations. In this campaign, it is foreseen that when joining the campaign the political decision making body sets targets on when to achieve which share of green products for a given product group (e.g. 20% of Green electricity by 2008).

• electricity from renewable resources
• energy-efficient computers and IT devices for offices
• organic food for canteens, hospitals and catering
• buildings meeting highest heating and cooling efficiency standards
• health-oriented cleaning services
• quality-oriented public transport services with low emission buses.

http://www.procuraplus.org/

The LEAP project was co-funded by the European Commission’s LIFE-Evironment Programme and led by Leicester City Council (Alison Lea, Project Manager) working with ten other European local authorities and procurement experts to investigate how to improve green procurement in Europe. LEAP project partners worked together to share valuable experiences and developed a set of practical tools and guidance to help local authorities consider environmental issues throughout the procurement process. The tools and guidance produced have been combined into ‘The LEAP Toolkit’ launched at the EcoProcura conference in Barcelona in September 2006. As well as being available on line at the web address below it is also available on CD-ROM.

Tool A.
Green Procurement Policy: A 5 step process based on the Procura+ milestone model and contains examples of good green procurement policies.

Tool B.
Integrating green procurement into EMS: A set of EMS procedures to control and improve the environmental impacts throughout the procurement process.

Tool C.
Barriers to effective green procurement: A self assessment tool to help organisations identify barriers to green procurement and identify priority areas.

Tool D.
Joint procurement models: Examples of joint procurement activities in Europe and guidance on how to initiate joint procurement.

Tool E.
Standard specifications; Guidance on developing specifications for seven key products that local authorities buy.

Tool F.
Environmental demands in procurement: Information on how to include environmental criteria into procurement and hoe to evaluate tenders.

Tool G.
Information on specifications, products etc: A database of information sources to help identify green alternatives to current purchases.

Tool H.
Promoting a green market: Guidance on how to work with suppliers to improve the environmental performance of goods and develop markets through the supply chain.

Further information can be found on the website or by contacting Alison Lea. 0116 252 6776 or e-mail
aliso.lea@leicester.gov.uk
http://www.leap-gpp-toolkit.org/

The public sector in England spends £2 billion on food and catering services. The Government wants to use this buying power to help deliver the principle aims of the Government’s Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food in England. That is to deliver a world class sustainable farming and food sector that contributes to a better environment and healthier and prosperous communities. For general information.

www.defra.gov.uk/farm/policy/sustain/procurement/index.htm

1. Raise production and process standards
2. Increase tenders from small and local producers
3. Increase consumption of healthy and nutritious food
4. Reduce adverse environmental impacts of production and supply
5. Increase capacity of small and local suppliers to meet demand.

The purpose of the toolkit is to provide buyers and non-procurement professionals with a clear and practical guidance framework to enable the procurement of catering services and the procurement of food direct from wholesalers and producers. The sample documents provided in the draft toolkit are focused, although not solely, on the procurement of catering services.

www.defra.gov.uk/farm/policy/sustain/procurement/tools.htm

• Which recycled or secondary aggregate can be used for a particular construction application?
• Which industry standards apply to specific aggregate products?
• What are the required physical and chemical properties for specific aggregate products?

The Aggregate Specifier Tool provides the answers.

The specifier module helps the user to identify the right aggregate for the right application, and find out which recycled and secondary aggregates can be used.

It delivers:
- detailed technical notes on industry standard aggregate products
- material information sheets on recycled and secondary aggregates
- links to case studies demonstrating the use of recycled and secondary aggregates in specific products.

www.aggregain.org.uk/specifier/index.html

• demonstrate performance against corporate social and sustainability policies without incurring a cost premium
• meet the requirements of planning authorities
• provide a competitive edge through differentiation
• show commitment to recycling and good practice in the public sector
• reduce material costs, for example where locally reprocessed demolition materials are cheaper than virgin materials
• drive down the cost of waste management
• satisfy the values held by employees
• complement other aspects of sustainable design
• respond to and pre-empt public policy initiatives

In accordance with practice adopted by leading bodies in both the public and private sectors, it is recommended that construction clients and developers should include the following form of requirement in their project procurement: a minimum outcome and a request for good practice. As an example.

…….. ‘at least 10% of the total value of materials used should derive from recycled and reused content in the products and materials selected. In addition, show that the most significant opportunities to increase the value of materials derived from recycled and reused content have been considered, such as the top ten Quick Wins or equivalent good practice where technically and commercially viable’.

To help project teams to assess, ioncrease and report on the recycled content of their projects, WRAP has developed an on line Recycled Content toolkit. This is a free resource available at the web address below. It can be used to:

- estimate the baseline performance of the building
- identify the most significant Quick Win opportunities
- record how each Quick Win is being addressed in the project
- produce preformatted reports that demonstrate how a recycled content requirement is being met.
www.wrap.org.uk/construction/RCtoolkit

This self-assessment Tool has been designed by Forum for the Future, in conjunction with the Welsh Procurement initiative, and is intended to ascertain the extent to which Sustainable Procurement is being considered in an organisation. It is designed to be an assessment tool for your organisation to undertake an initial evaluation-"where are you now?" It is also meant as a monitoring tool to measure progress on sustainable procurement, by following the recommended WPIT 12 month Action Plans.

In 2003 the Social Enterprise Unit at the DTI produced a toolkit to give social enterprises across the UK access to the best possible information and advice on how to win government or public sector business.an 80 page guide for social enterprises considering competing for public sector contracts.

DTI Guide for Social Enterprises.

LM3 (Local Multiplier 3) was developed by the New Economics Foundation (nef)

To give people a simple and understandable way to measure their economic impact. nef determined this was needed to get people thinking about local money flows and how to practically improve an organisation’s local economy impact, as well as influencing the public sector to consider the value of social enterprise. It was designed to be quick and relatively easy, and to highlight where an organisation can improve its impact.

1. A source of income and follows how it is,
2. Spent and then,
3. Re-spent within a defined geographic area, called the local-economy.

These three steps are the ‘3’ in LM3.