Buying a better world

Our new report on sustainable public procurement, Buying a better world, is deliberately detailed. And there’s a good reason why.

It’s clear that many public sector buyers now feel that considering the sustainability goals of their organisation, when making spending decisions, makes sense. However, our experiences with buyers over a number of years suggest that knowing how to do this in practice still remains a stumbling block.

There needs to be a shift from having the right policies in place and knowing it’s a good idea, to actually taking some bold spending decisions. Decisions that will contribute significantly to a better future for us all.

The report goes into some detail about practical actions that buyers can take to improve the sustainability of any area of spend. The accompanying Sustainable Procurement Toolkit, is designed tohelp public sector organisations start taking action straight away.

I was pleased to hear Nigel Smith, the new Chief Executive of the Office of Government Commerce, talking at the Public Sector Transformation Summit last week about how sustainability should be considered in government procurement. Being last on the agenda I was starting to worry that there would be nothing left for me to say – most other speakers had already highlighted the need to consider sustainability. The tide of opinion has turned…its now time to take action.

In some ways the collaborative buying organisations that are tasked with driving down costs in the public sector, have a real opportunity. It makes sense for them to source good value, sustainable solutions - saving their customers time and money. And, like most suppliers, they listen to their customers. If local authorities, NHS Trusts and government departments don’t start being choosy customers, don’t start asking both individual suppliers and collaborative buying organisations "what sustainable products do you offer in this category?", very little is going to change.

It is important to remember that if you don’t ask, you’re unlikely to get. Its unlikely that the the big names on the high street would have spent time and money examining their supply chains and sourcing Fairtrade clothing, recycled toilet roll and local food without consumer pressure. The public sector needs to start using its power as the biggest customer in the UK, to create a better world.