Green Procurement Language in Municipal Code

http://www.procuraplus.org/index.php?id=4611

This manual from Procura+ is a pretty useful resource - it has examples of procurement documents, suitable language to use and decision-making tools.

If you haven't done so already, ICLEI is worth googling (it's related to the above document), as is the Responsible Purchasing Network.

Ian Rowberry
Campus Sustainability Initiative
Canada

Also take a look at http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/Buyrecycled/Policies/ for model and sample policies and legislation.

Pamela Williams
Boise Public Works
United States

Hi Anne Marie,

The state of Minnesota has specs it uses as do many of the cities/townships in the state. You can find out more at http://www.pca.state.mn.us/oea/epp/criteria.cfm
There are aslo links there to federal standards which might be useful. Good luck!


Cathy Jensen
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
United States

Hi ,
The Resort Municipality of Whistler has developed guidelines for its purchasing. See http://www.whistler2020.ca/whistler/site/genericPage.acds?context=1967998&instanceid=1967999.


Sue Maxwell
Ecoinspire
Canada

The City of San Jose's Environmentally Preferred Procurement Policy (EP3) can be found here: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/clerk/cp_manual/CPM_4_6.pdf

The City also has an overarching Green Vision with 10 outcome-based goals that help guide decision making (e.g.: using biodiesel instead of regular despite the increased cost). Info can be found here: http://www.sanjoseca.gov/greenvision/

Good luck!

Mary Morse
Sr. Environmental Inspector
City of San Jose
United States
170 W San Carlos St

Not directly responsive to the request but possibly helpful is the idea of using quality function deployment, a technique that helps you approach the customer's wants into product attributes systematically. Presumably could be applied to procurement easily.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_function_deployment for overview.

John Gear
United States
http://lovesalem.blogspot.com/

Hi Anne,

Another option that may be helpful for your city is the US Communities program. It's a purchasing cooperative that allows local and state governments (as well as schools and other nonprofits) to have access to competitively solicited contracts. Environmentally-preferably products, including recycled content paper, is included in this Program. Responsible Purchasing Network is working with US Communities to approve the green products to ensure they fit high standards. However, RPN has not yet reviewed many of the products available so you should look for additional product certifications such as Green Seal (cleaners, etc) or FSC (paper). The website is: http://www.uscommunities.org/ . You'll see a 'going green' tab on the left. That link takes you directly to a part of the website showcasing the environmentally preferable products available (and the vendors who sell them).

An additional option is to form your own cooperative purchasing network to drive the prices down--many universities have done this successfully.

Good luck!

Stacey Kennealy
GreenFaith
United States

Anne Marie,

ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA has an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Guide which was designed to provide an overview of EPP for municipal officials along with a framework for how to institute a municipal EPP program. The Guide focuses on overcoming obstacles to the incorporation of EPP practices into municipal procurement, and also includes some sample specification language.

The guide can be accessed here (by ICLEI USA member liaisons):
http://www.icleiusa.org/action-center/learn-from-others/environmentally-preferable-purchasing-guide.

Sincerely,

Meleah Houseknecht
Senior Membership Officer
ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability
United States

Toyota Canada has committed to paying up to a 15% premium for products offering environmental/ sustainability considerations. See SmartSteps Case Study, Sustainable Purchasing http://www.metrovancouver.org/smartsteps/bestpractices/Case%20Studies/CaseStudy-Warehousing.pdf

Also, Metro Vancouver has a Procurement Policy that includes the following financial and economic considerations relating to Sustainable Procurement:

Purchasing decisions will take into account the following financial and economic considerations:
Price comparison for equivalent quality of materials or services;
Total life cycle cost of the goods or services to be purchased, to the extent that can be estimated;
Where appropriate, any extraordinary impacts on the local or other economies;

We've also developed a Sustainable Purchasing Guide for business you might find useful http://www.metrovancouver.org/about/publications/Publications/SustainablePurchasing1.pdf

And finally a local group in Vancouver, the Sustainability Purchasing Network, has resources on their website http://www.buysmartbc.com/

Regards,


Graham Currie
Greater Vancouver Regional District
Canada

Hi Anne Marie,

It might be worth you checking out and contacting the Eco-Buy Network in Victoria, Australia:
http://www.ecobuy.org.au/index.cfm

This is a member based organisation which provides resources, training and guidelines for environmental purchasing. The general mandate is to purchase the environmentally preferred product if it is within 10% of the price of the conventional option. Most local governments in Victoria are members and complete annual reports to track their purchasing sustainability.

Hope this is useful.

Rose Childe
Regional Environment Education Officer
Rural City of Wangaratta
Australia

Thanks so much to all those who have responded! Your input has been very helpful.

Anne Marie Holen
City of Homer
United States