03 June 2016 
Emma Keenan, Procurement Specialist
The past two years has seen a significant rise in the number of university procurement teams striving to embed sustainability into their processes and practice. Some have been spurred into action following a Procurement Maturity or Capability Assessment, others by legislative changes such as the Modern Slavery Act.
The University of Manchester made the link in 2014 between their institutional priority to be a socially responsible university, and their spending power. Supported by their Finance Director to access external support from Net Positive Futures, they were able to very quickly make progress on the Flexible Framework.
The team at the University of Manchester has been keen to share their learning with the wider sector; not to bask in the limelight but simply to use their profile to support their peers. Other collaborators on this project - the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and University College London have contributed to the content and also worked with Net Positive Futures to ensure the process is replicable.
This free-to-you resource focuses on the integration of sustainability considerations within the procurement process over 17 areas. It will enable you to consider each commodity within the context of Specification development, KPI development and Contract Management. It is offered to the sector simply to be useful. It is not expected to be a definitive process, you may wish to adapt the method to meet your needs. The University of Oxford have done just that, however we are providing clear guidance to give an understanding of the underlying philosophy and approach which we recommend you read in full prior to doing anything further.
HEPA are providing a repository for the original set of documents and these will be added to as further areas are developed. If you would be interested in a training day on the wider aspects of this process as well assisting in the development of the next set of documents please contact Emma.
HEPA will be working with all those who have contributed to these documents so far and have offered to liaise with them on your behalf to answer common questions with the aim to create an FAQ document if demand arises. To this effect, if you have any queries, please send Emma an e mail. To view the guidance and associated documents click here.
