Staffing

If you want to achieve anything on sustainable procurement, then you have to employ an expert. 10:10 Camden was rated one of the top five public authorities in Europe for sustainable purchasing in 2006, but shortly afterwards they scrapped their sustainable procurement specialist, the person who’d done so much to make the council a pacesetter on this agenda. Someone at the most senior level of management decided that sustainable procurement had been mainstreamed and so the post could go in the latest round of efficiency savings. Within two years a lot of expertise that had been built up was lost and Camden had to re-invent the wheel.

Life-Cycle Costing

The upfront cost of a green product may appear more expensive, but when all the costs (throughout the working life of the product) are analysed, the greener alternative may well prove to be cheaper over time. If contracting authorities wish to ascertain which products are most cost effective for them they need to apply Life-Cycle Costing (LCC) approaches in their procurement decisions. This means comparing not just the initial purchase price of a product, but all future costs as well eg usage costs (energy/water consumption, consumables such as ink or paper), maintenance costs and disposal costs or resale value. Take the Passivhaus energy efficiency standard for example. On average a Passivhaus building costs 0-7% more than conventional build, but if you include lifetime energy bills in the build costs, then it costs less than conventional build.