Strategies For Procuring Consulting Services Aligned with Your Values
The CCSP’s October Peer Exchange explored key sustainability considerations when selecting and procuring consulting services. The City of Mississauga shared its approach for drafting RFPs that align with organizational sustainability goals, while AECOM provided insights into how consulting firms are integrating sustainability into their corporate practices and project offerings.
Sustainability in Consulting Services
Sustainability in consulting services is often overlooked in procurement, despite its significant share of institutional spending and frequent appearance on High-Impact Procurement Opportunity (HIPO) lists. Unlike tangible goods, which focus on aspects like packaging or toxic ingredients, consulting services are people-centric making it challenging to identify how sustainability applies, as they lack the clear environmental touchpoints of physical products.
The wide variability in scope across consulting services further complicates defining sustainability criteria; despite this there is still ample opportunity to seek improved sustainability performance. The triangle model offers a practical framework to address this, focusing on three dimensions: compliance with minimum standards, sustainability attributes of the service, and the supplier’s corporate practices. Consulting firms can deliver value across all three dimensions by:
- Complying with Minimum Ethical Standards:
- Adopting and following a Supplier Code of Conduct
- Adhering to human rights and health standards.
- Delivering Sustainability Attributes in their Service:
- Minimizing project impacts through virtual meetings minimizing paper use.
- Offering diverse project teams.
- Delivering social and environmental value in the core project scope.
- Having Supplier Leadership Practices:
- Developing comprehensive sustainability strategies.
- Reducing environmental impacts of the company’s operations.
- Promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion.
- Achieving certifications like ISO 14001, NSF 39.1, B Corp or similar.
Integrating Sustainability into Consulting Services Procurement: Insights from the City of Missi
ssauga
Like other organizations, Mississauga sought to align procurement with its sustainability goals while addressing broader systemic issues, such as the underrepresentation of diverse suppliers and the lack of standardized approaches to evaluating sustainability in services. The City’s approach to sustainable procurement includes:
- Issuing Invitational Bids to Indigenous suppliers when appropriate.
- Attaching a Sustainability Leadership Questionnaire to RFPs to evaluate bidder’s practices in their operations.
- Dedicated Support for contract managers and buyers from an internal full-time sustainable procurement advisor.
The City of Mississauga has advanced sustainability for consulting services using a dual approach. One, using the Sustainability Leadership Questionnaire (weighted at 10 points), evaluating corporate sustainability policies, environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and employee wellness; while including additional requirements such as Equity Plans, Environmental Impact Plans, and social value experience. These practices were shown using examples from RFPs for Construction Management, Micro-mobility planning, and Climate Change Plan consultants.
Driving Sustainability in Consulting: AECOM’s Evolving Approach to ESG
Elizabeth Logan, ESG & Sustainability Practice Lead at AECOM Canada, emphasized the growing focus on equity, diversity, inclusion (EDI), social value, and Indigenous reconciliation in consulting. AECOM faces increasing demands from clients, regulators, investors, and industry peers to meet evolving sustainability expectations. In response, AECOM has adopted a sustainable strategy targeting a 50% reduction in carbon emissions for major projects, achieving net-zero goals, and decarbonizing operations. This strategy is supported by internal assessments, training, and embedding sustainability into leadership and service delivery. These measures help AECOM meet regulatory and client demands while delivering social and environmental value across projects.
In her presentation, she urged public sector organizations to deepen their integration of robust criteria into RFPs. She advised asking suppliers about reduction targets, decarbonization efforts, and contributions to social value, including partnerships with local and diverse suppliers and Indigenous reconciliation initiatives. She also offered practical tips to improve vendor responses:
- Assign Higher Weights to Sustainability Questions to encourage more thorough and thoughtful responses from vendors.
- Clarify if responses are for scoring or information only.
- Define Local Impact within project context.
- Separate Criteria for project-specific and organizational-wide sustainability metrics.
- Provide Early Guidance on new sustainability standards
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions
The integration of sustainability into procurement for consulting services marks a significant shift in supply and demand. Buyers like the City of Mississauga are elevating sustainability standards in RFPs, while firms like AECOM are adapting by embedding sustainability into their operations and services. This shared commitment drives innovation, enhances environmental outcomes, and amplifies social impact, highlighting the value of collaborative, sustainability-focused procurement.