Sustainable Procurement
Although it is not a legal oblilgation, the Council wants to
ensure that it uses its commissioning and procurement power to
promote the economic, social and environmental well being of
Northumberland. It is crucial that these issues are central
ingredients to the Councils procurement activity in order to ensure
this effect is positive.
We will promote sustainable procurement through our procurement
activity and the following criteria are the main target areas:
- Reduction in C02 Emissions
- Environmental Considerations
- Whole Life Costing
- Social Consideration including Targeted Recruitment and
Training
- Continue Engagement with Third Sector and SME’s
Sustainable Procurement Policy for Northumberland County
Council
Click here to
review our Sustainable Procurement Policy.
Northumberland County Council work with other local authorities
in the North East to ensure cohesive development of sustainable
procurment is rolled out throughout the region. Many of these
projects are managed by the North East Improvement and Efficiency
Partnership.
Click
here for further information on current projects.
Life Cycle Costing
It is important to consider the Life Cycle Costing for each
commissioning/procurement exercise. This ensures greater
transparency, improved awareness of total costs and will achieve
true evaluation of sustainable options.
Life cycle costing should be used at the early stage of
commissioning/procurement, at design stage, and evaluation
stage.
Whole Life Costing - is the capital cost of an asset over the
duration of its lifetime; from the identification of need to the
end of the useful life of the asset and its disposal.
Whole Life Value - extends the above definition to include the
social, economic and environmental considerations in the value
assessment of a product, service or project.
More information on life cycle costing can be found on the Green
Public Procurement (GPP) web site. Click here to
review the GPP Toolkit for life cycle costing.
There are various electronic toolkits available to measure and
review life cycle costing. Northumberland County Council is
part of the North East Purchasing Organisation (NEPO) and Regional
Improvement and Efficiency Partnership (RIEP) who work
collaboratively across the region to ensure harmonisation of
documents and cohesive working. Through these groups, a new
electronic toolkit to help buyers and suppliers review and analyse
life cycle costing has been introduced. Each authority is now
working towards implementation of this toolkit as part of their
commissioning and procurement activity.
This toolkit is available free via http://www.smart-spp.eu/ or
click here to directly access the free LCC toolkit.
Targeted Recruitment and Training (TRT)
In May 2010, the Council's Regeneration Service successfully
secured European Social Fund funding to develop and implement a
robust corporate approach to Targeted Recruitment and Training
(TRT) and to help support workless residents into training and
employment, raising skills levels especially in the most
disadvantaged communities to help meet the skill needs of the
county's economy.
Targeted Recruitment and Training
(TRT) is reflective of a national initiative, using
procurement to build ‘added value’ via social responsibility,
maximising the benefits of procurement and planning activities in
terms of providing employment and training to the residents of
Northumberland, and the social benefits resulting from these
activities.
The authority has recently appointed a Development Officer (TRT)
to champion the project and ensure a consistent regional approach
to the inclusion of social clauses relating to recruitment and
training. These will be embedded within Northumberland
contracts, where relevant and proportionate, to the subject matter
of the contract.
At the earliest stage in the procurement
process the Commercial Team will consult with the
Development Officer (TRT) to ensure consistency in identifying
potential TRT opportunities. Supply chains will be
considered to enable officer involvement in all negotiations with
developers, contractors and sub contractors.
Targeted Recruitment and Training conditions
pertaining to the performance of the contract will be compliant
with EU and UK law, and will be stated in the contract notice and
contract documents.
Click here to
view the flowchart which has been developed to illustrate
where, in the procurement process, TRT will be considered.
Please Note that this project has now ended.
For more information about the regional
TRT project please visit the following link:
Click
here for more information about the regional TRT project
