Sustainable procurement enables purchasing the most sustainable products from the most sustainable suppliers. As outlined in the white paper, “7 Bold Strokes to Save Our World,” sustainable procurement (Bold Stroke #3) may be the most underused and powerful force that could accelerate us toward a resilient, future-fit socio-economic system. Several tools help organizations justify and implement a sustainable procurement system.
Sustainability ROI Workbook
This free, open-source, generic, CFO-friendly cost-benefit analysis tool can be used to justify a sustainable procurement system. Users treat the implementation of a sustainable procurement system as a project and assess the opportunities and risks associated with the initiative.
This free, open-source, generic, CFO-friendly cost-benefit analysis tool can be used to justify a sustainable procurement system. Users treat the implementation of a sustainable procurement system as a project and assess the opportunities and risks associated with the initiative.
This free, open-source toolkit contains tools that help implement three critical aspects of a sustainable procurement system.
- RFP Specifications Template: This template outlines traditional and new product and supplier decision-making criteria that CFOs and sustainable procurement experts say should be considered when making purchasing decisions in the 21st century. The Request For Proposal (RFP) Specifications Template is designed to help buyers send a strong signal to suppliers that sustainability matters, both at the product level and the company level.
- Bid Evaluation Tool: This ready-to-use template uses a CFO-recommended multi-criteria analysis (MCA) structured decision-making approach to evaluate supplier bids. By assigning weights to the importance of non-financial attributes of the products and of the supplier companies, it helps avoid the lowest-price-is-the-only-thing-that-matters trap.
- Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) Tool: This fill-in-the-blanks Excel worksheet is a slimmed-down, reformatted version of the Sustainability ROI Workbook. It prompts users to estimate all direct and indirect costs and benefits of using the product during the evaluation timeframe. It helps determine whether initially paying more for a better, more sustainable product from a more sustainable / future-fit supplier is a smart business decision.
