Last summer the Sustainable Procurement Task Force challenged the UK Government to apply the principles of its sustainable development policy to its own procurement. Quentin Leiper and Chrissie Pepper of ICE say there is a real opportunity here for civil engineers to demonstrate leadership.
In March 2005 the UK Government launched its new strategy for sustainable development, Securing the Future.1 The document reflected a growing recognition that carbon is the key environmental driver and that personal and organisational—not just corporate—culture and performance are key to delivering the social and economic elements of sustainability.
To encourage a step change in public-sector procurement practice, Securing the Future established the business-led Sustainable Procurement Task Force under the chairmanship of ICE fellow Sir Neville Simms. The aim is for the UK to be recognised as a leader in sustainable procurement across Europe and the world by 2009.
Presented to the Prime Minister on 12 June 2006, the task force's report Procuring the future: sustainable procurement national action plan2 identified critical areas to address and provided a flexible framework for procurement. The aim was to enable all government bodies to assess their current capabilities and performance and understand the necessary steps to achieve improved performance.
Moving from strategy to delivery
The main recommendations to the Government were as follows.
Lead by example. Lack of consistent leadership and ownership of sustainable procurement emerged as a key barrier.
Set clear priorities. Procurers complained of too much guidance, presented in an incoherent manner with no cross-government ownership.
Raise the bar. Existing minimum standards for central government should be properly enforced and extended to the rest of the public sector.
Build capacity. There should be a new commitment to training and education for public sector procurers as part of the delivery of a national action plan.
Remove barriers. Barriers to sustainable procurement should be removed and budgetary mechanisms that enable and support it should be implemented.
The Government is currently reviewing the national action plan and was due to respond in full to the report by the end of 2006. Its future policy with respect to sustainable procurement will be informed by this response.
Lead role for civil engineers
It was evident during the course of the task force's work that construction is seen as a leader in terms of its understanding of sustainability and delivery of more sustainable products. Indeed many of the examples of excellent practice in the report were from the construction industry.
It is also evident that there is a massive opportunity for civil engineers to help the Government deliver its aspiration to be more sustainable in all its £150 billion spend. Civil engineers possess the knowledge to deliver more sustainable solutions and should therefore consider how the task force's report can help them demonstrate leadership in this area.
ICE is continuing to take the lead and is working in partnership with the civil engineering trade and research bodies to develop a sustainability strategy and action plan to enable the civil engineering profession to play its full role in delivering a more sustainable society.
ICE is also holding a sustainable procurement conference on 7 February 2007. The conference will provide members and delegates an opportunity to learn directly from Sir Neville, along with Sustainable Development Commission chairman Jonathon Porritt and key government clients and suppliers, how the task force recommendations and the national action plan will affect procurement in the future.
For more information about the conference please contact Vidya Gunapala at the ICE on 020 7222 7722 or email vidya.gunapala@ice.org.uk.
References
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, Chrissie Pepper, TEL +44 (0)20 7222 7722, EMAIL chrissie.pepper@ice.org.uk
