Social Issues in Procurement

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Social Issues in Procurement

• EAUC EAF Programme

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EAF Programme

• Background
• Three year project
• Reducing negative environmental and social
  impacts through purchasing
• Steering group, partners from Further Education
  and Higher Education
• Training
• Train the trainer
• Policy and strategy development
• Risk based approach to procurement
• Supplier engagement
• Social issues in procurement

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Social Issues in Procurement

• Agenda
• 13.00 Introductions and objectives
• 13.20 What do we mean by social issues?
• 14.00 What guidance exists?
• 14.30 Coffee
• 14.45 What does good practice look like?
• Case Study Review
• 15.30 Where do I start?
• 16.15 Action Planning
• 16.30 Close

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Social Issues in Procurement

• Format and style of workshops
• Interactive
• Informal
• Varied
• Proactive

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Social Issues in Procurement

• Objectives
• Develop a shared understanding of what we mean by
  social issues in procurement
• Review good practice Novo Nordisk
• Identify opportunities to build social issues
  into your procurement activity

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What do we mean by social issues?

• Come up with a list of social issues

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Social Issues in Procurement

• CIPS publication Develop Ethical Purchasing
  Practices identified the following
• Forced labour
• Employment relationships
• Freedom of association
• Wages and working hours
• Treatment of employees
• Law
• Health and Safety
• Child labour
• Discrimination

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Social Issues in Procurement

• As early as 1992 BQ developed a social policy
  they identified the following specific issues
• The exploitation of child labour
• Bonded labour including prison camps
• Health and Safety
• Cottage industry
• Migrant workers
• Fair wages / living wage
• Freedom of association
• Equal opportunities
• Discrimination
• Bullying

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Social Issues in Procurement

• Vodaphone Code of Ethical Purchasing
• Child labour
• Forced labour
• Health and Safety
• Freedom of Association
• Discrimination
• Disciplinary Practices
• Working Hours
• Payment
• Individual Conduct
• Environment

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Social Issues in Procurement

• Where is it drawn from?
• 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations
  adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration
  of Human Rights
• 30 Articles identifying basic human rights to be
  adopted by member states

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Social Issues in Procurement

• Core Conventions of the International Labour
  Organisation
• Eight ILO Conventions have been identified by
  the ILO's Governing Body as being fundamental to
  the rights of human beings at work, irrespective
  of levels of development of individual member
  states.
• These rights are a precondition for all the
  others in that they provide for the necessary
  implements to strive freely for the improvement
  of individual and collective conditions of work

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Social Issues in Procurement

• Freedom of association
• Freedom of Association and Protection of the
  Right to Organize Convention, 1948 (No. 87)
• Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining
  Convention, 1949 (No. 98)
• The abolition of forced labour
• Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29)
• Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No.
  105)

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Social Issues in Procurement

• Equality
• Discrimination (Employment and Occupation)
  Convention, 1958 (No. 111)
• Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100)
• The elimination of child labour
• Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)
• Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No.
  182)

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Social Issues in Procurement

• The CIPS position on Ethical Business Practices
  in Purchasing and Supply Management distils
  aspects of current developments in the area,
  including
• The Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code
• The Core Convention of the ILO
• The UN Declaration on Human Rights
• SA8000 (a Social Responsibility Standard
  developed by the Council on Economic Priorities
  Accreditation Agency in New York - now known as
  Social Accountability International (SAI)

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Social Issues in Procurement

• What does all this mean?
• General consistency when people talk about social
  issues
• The issues identified are well known and drawn
  from the same sources
• Whilst well developed in certain sectors still
  ignored in many places
• Rhetoric tends to focus on the global challenges
  rather than the local opportunities

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What guidance exists?
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What guidance exists?

• OGC / Defra joint note on environmental issues in
  purchasing Social issues in procurement
• Interpretative Communication on integrating
  social considerations into public procurement -
  frequently asked questions

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What guidance exists?

• Develop Ethical Purchasing Practice, 2001 CIPS
• The ethical decision An executive guide to
  corporate social responsibility, 2004 CIPS
• Social issues in purchasing, February 2006
  Office of Government Commerce

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What does it say?

• Opportunities exist at different stages of the
  procurement process and can legitimately be
  incorporated into your activities

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What does it say?
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What does it say?

• But remember
• They must be relevant to the subject matter of
  the contract
• Actions must be consistent with the EU Treaty and
  the EU Public Procurement Directive
• Most progress can be made if social issues are
  considered at the earliest stages of the
  procurement cycle

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Novo Nordisk

• Case Study

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Novo Nordisk

• Read the materials provided?
• What do you like about their approach?
• Is any of it relevant to your institution?
• What can you apply to your situation?

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Where do I start?
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Where do I start?

• Are social issues identified in your current
  purchasing strategy or policy?
• Are social issues identified as a priority by any
  other part of the business?
• Have obligations relating to social legislation
  been considered?
• Could you take a risk based approach to identify
  high spend / risk areas?

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What social issues are important to your
institution?

• Produce a list that you think is relevant and
  useful to you

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Where do I start?

• Consider social issues from the outset, there is
  most scope early on in the process
• Carefully plan the procurement process to ensure
  it is accessible to a suitable variety of
  suppliers
• Use performance or functional specifications
  where appropriate for desired social outcomes to
  encourage innovative solutions
• Assemble relevant expertise procurement
  specialists and end users
• Early dialogue with the supplier community tell
  them what is important to you.

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Where do I start?

• Here are a number of important social issues that
  might be relevant to your institution.
• Community Benefits
• Core Labour Standards
• Disability Equality
• Employment and Training Issues
• Fair Trade
• Gender Equality
• Race Equality
• Including Small and Medium Sized Enterprises
• Work Force Skills

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Exercise

• As a contracting organisation what actions could
  you take?

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Action Planning

• Realistically
• What can you take forward?
• How will go about it?
• SMART

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Summary

• A complicated and developing area
• Starting point is the same as with environmental
  issues
• What's important to you?
• What are the risks?
• What can you realistically do?
• Focus on small steps close to home
• Guidance and further support is available

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Many thanks

• jbrannigan_at_esdconsulting.co.uk
• www.eauc.org.uk