Sustainable Procurement Tools

Monitoring and Reporting Outcomes

Internal and external Climate Change Reporting requirements

Given increasing focus on procurement and how it supports the delivery of climate change outcomes within Climate Change reporting duties it is important to determine and collate, where possible, how specific procurements have supported resilience ambitions. Public bodies should outline how their procurement practices comply with their organisation’s Procurement Strategy as part of their Annual Procurement Report, which includes activity that complies with the Sustainable Procurement Duty such as climate change strategies.

Public bodies are also required to report on how their procurement policies and activities contributed to compliance with climate change duties in their Annual Climate Change Report (information contained in these sections of each report can be identical or linked). Collaboration between climate and procurement colleagues is essential to ensure it is clear how procurement is supporting organisational climate change strategies.

Any detail that can be provided on resilience through procurement activities is useful both for establishing baselines and sharing good practice lessons with others.

Public Sector Leadership on the Global Climate Emergency Guidance emphasises the role of procurement activities of all public bodies to help achieve adaptation objectives and encourages streamlined reporting on climate change and procurement.

Sharing of lessons and good practice

This includes identifying further opportunities to develop innovative resilience solutions with markets, how public bodies have delivered climate change adaptation outcomes through commissioning, procurement and contract management as well as remaining barriers which enhanced collaboration may help address.

As a result:

• Is it clear what the Contracting Authority resilience ambitions are and have these been considered internally and with the market to identify intended outcomes and market capability?
• At pre-procurement have relevant options been considered to enable the most positive resilience outcomes?
• Does your specification focus on relevant and proportionate technical/ outcome-based requirements, including relevant use of standards and the role of innovative solutions?
• Is it clear what an excellent response to tender requirements would be?
• Is it clear how intended outcomes will be measured and monitored?
• Where relevant have you discussed climate change adaptation ambitions at the mobilisation stage?
• During contract review do you encourage further improvement in resilience outcomes?

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