Electric vehicles at the Salzburg Marathon (© Salzburg Marathon)

 

 

 

 

In simple terms – the buying process is:

 

1. Request for quotes (RFQ): ensure the sustainability requirement identified are included in the RFQ

2. Evaluate suppliers: Review their social, environmental and economic policies and management 

3. Evaluating the product or service: Evaluate the product or service they are providing asking 5 key questions (which follow)

4. Select the supplier and contract the service including the sustainability requirements 

5. Provision of service/product should also include the provision of evidence of compliance with sustainability requirements. These should be checked on site through audits against the specified requirements and action taken to address any non-conformities   

6. Payment on delivery of contracted services including final data reporting and evidence of compliance  

 

 

1. Request for quotes 

 

RFQs should include the sustainability requirements that have been identified in the sustainability strategy and are important in the local context. Specification of materials should align with the waste management plan and are key to delivering the objectives and targets of a sustainable event.  

 

2. Evaluating suppliers 

 

The procurement process should evaluate the type of company providing the product or service. Critical will be assurance of the look, feel and performance of the product or service and the reliability of the supplier. However, questions in the RFQ should include those about the company to mitigate reputation risk as well as ensuring and promoting the use of responsible suppliers. Simply asking for their social, environmental and economic policies and management processes will be a start. This may be evidenced through certification schemes such as ISO14001 (Environmental Management) or ISO20121 (Sustainability Management).

 

You are looking for assurances across:  

 

- Conditions of workers providing the products or service

- The company paying staff living wages

- Health and safety of employees 

- Environmental performance of the company ensuring minimal environmental impact or carbon neutral services 

- Locale of the company and its own supply chain to help build local resilience and local economic impact   

 

 

3. Evaluating products or services 

 

There are five key questions to ask when looking at the sustainability of products and to some extent services: 

 

- Where does it come from - who made it? 

- What is it made of? 

- What is it wrapped in?

- What impact does it have in use? 

- What will happen to it after the event?

 

Sustainable procurement is looking to ensure negative environmental and social impacts are minimised through the buying choices made by the event team. World Athletics has developed a comprehensive procurement code that identifies products and materials to avoid. This can be shared on request. 

 

4. Selecting suppliers and contracting the services

 

Once the preferred supplier is selected to provide the product or service, a contract that clearly specifies the sustainability requirements should be drawn up. As a minimum these should include: 

 

- Compliance with the event’s sustainability policy and on-site procedures, including but not limited to waste management, spill prevention, eliminating single use materials, low carbon transport 

- Specification of materials in manufacturing of product and clearly stating materials to avoid

- Provision of evidence and assurance of materials used 

- Provision of required data to report to the event team at conclusion of service – e.g., travel and transport impact, quantities of product/ materials  

 

5. Provision and audit of the service or product 

 

As the supplier provides the service, the certifications or evidence of the provenance of materials should be provided at the same time and an on-site audit carried out to check against the specified requirements.

 

Working closely with suppliers will help to ensure the understanding and importance of these sustainability requirements. As events are able to pave the way with pushing more sustainable products, the demand for those with a more damaging social and environmental impact will decrease. 

 

Suppliers may also be able to improve their service offering as you work closely with them to achieve the sustainability requirements. 

 

6. Payment on delivery of contracted service

 

Provision of the required data is part of the contracted service and is often overlooked. Ensuring the supplier understands payment is dependent on delivery of the service to the specification as well as the sustainability data requested. This may be around the product, quantities of materials, evidence of sourcing if not already provided, transport and travel distances due to service provision.

 

These actions should be implemented throughout the event planning and delivery cycle:

 

1. During event planning

 

Request for quotes

 

- Embed sustainability criteria into all procurement documents, including the Request for Quotes (RFQ) 

- Sustainable procurement code is implemented, eliminating packaging waste, where possible

- Create a sustainable procurement matrix detailing service provision and associated sustainability impact and scale to prioritise the procurement process 

 

Evaluating suppliers, products or services

 

- Identify suppliers that have a certified Environmental Management System (EMS) to ISO14001 or Sustainability Management System (SMS) to ISO20121 

- Suppliers without certified management systems, request details of social, environmental and economic policies

 

Selecting suppliers and contracting services

 

- Integrate environmental, social and ethical responsibility into criteria for determining “value for money” and selection of suppliers/ contractors

- Ensure that sustainability requirements, including provision of post event monitoring/ evaluation data, is embedded, clearly, into service agreements

 

2. During event delivery 

 

Provision and audit of product or service

 

- Assign responsibility to audit and ensure compliance to sustainable procurement commitments throughout event delivery 

- Assign responsibility to ensure that suppliers/ contractors minimise packaging and take responsibility for any waste

 

3. Post event wash up 

 

- Post event review meeting with suppliers/ contractors to constructively review service delivery and capture lessons learnt to drive continual improvement

- Review data provided and provision of services before payment is signed off

- Feed data and achievements to owner of post event report