There are 3 key principles of sustainable procurement - social, environmental, and economic:
- environmental is perhaps the most well known, focusing on factors such as the reduction of carbon, waste, and water usage
- economic focuses on factors such as encouraging small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) participation in procurements and supporting local skills and employment
- social looks at areas like ensuring human rights, environmental rights, and employment standards are always met
The sustainable procurement policy
The sustainable procurement policy sets out the proposals for us to achieve value for money from our activities whilst delivering environmental, social, and economic benefits.
The policy is designed to increase awareness of sustainable procurement principles, promote its aims and objectives to internal stakeholders, support external development through supplier engagement, and ultimately embed good practice in day to day working and as part of the procurement process.
Working in conjunction with other council policies, including the climate change strategy and single use plastic policy, the sustainable procurement policy brings focus as to how these policies can be applied within procurement activities.
Have a read of the sustainable procurement policy attached to this page.
Social value portal
We've partnered with social value portal to support with the embedding of sustainable procurement within tender processes and support the delivery of suppliers' commitments during the life of a contract.
Social value portal makes social value management and reporting easy, robust and transparent.
Suppliers can set out their social value offer against the Derbyshire themes, outcomes, and measures (TOMs) framework in the portal, helping them maximise their value add within the contract value. As a buyer, we can then evaluate social value bids and award work to suppliers that deliver against the targets that matter.
The whole process is simple and standardised. It levels the playing field, promoting clear-cut competition, giving us complete confidence in the consistency of evaluation and allowing us to easily identify which bidder offers the most value to our communities.
Social value portal is currently being piloted by procurement colleagues within tenders of all complexity, value and type. Results of the social value portal pilot will be made available at a later date.
More information regarding their approach to sustainable procurement and social value can be found on the social value portal.
Derbyshire themes, outcomes and measures (TOMs)
The Derbyshire TOMs form the backbone of a supplier's submission via social value portal. It is against the TOMs that suppliers make their commitments and deliver sustainable actions.
A full breakdown of the Derbyshire TOMs can be found on EDRM. The Derbyshire TOMs were derived from a wider framework of TOMs - known as the National TOMs - and were agreed with our sustainable procurement goals in mind. The Derbyshire TOMs are divided into 5 areas where suppliers can support us through the delivery of social value:
- jobs - promoting local skills and employment, opportunities for disadvantaged people, improved employability of young people
- growth - supporting the growth of responsible regional business, including more opportunities for local micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and voluntary, community, and social enterprise (VCSEs), and improving staff wellbeing and mental health
- social - supporting the development of healthier, safer, and more resilient communities
- environment - reduction of carbon emissions and air pollution, whilst promoting sustainable procurement, encouraging resource efficiency, and safeguarding the natural environment
- innovation - promoting social innovation, as to support and develop the other areas detailed