Archive

March 28, 2022 In

British Columbia Lottery Corporation

Procurement Program Refresh 

BCLC identified a need to re-examine their sustainable procurement program, which had not been reaching its full potential.  To better align their procurement practices with their newly adopted Social Purpose and corporate sustainability goals, BCLC was looking for a roadmap to refresh their program and ensure its longevity.

Working with a core team of representatives from both the Supply Management and Social Purpose & Sustainability teams, Reeve set-out on a 2-phased approach.

 

The first phase focused on looking at industry best practices and benchmarking BCLC’s current sustainable procurement program to identify strengths, gaps, and recent success stories. From here, Reeve engaged with internal stakeholders to formulate a Sustainable Procurement Implementation Strategy that would provide a roadmap for program development over the next three years.

 

In Phase 2, the team delved into the development of a few key program elements, as outlined in the Implementation Strategy. These included:

  1. A Sustainable Procurement Policy ready to enter the approvals process;
  2. A set of Tools to support procurement staff and Client Departments with incorporating sustainability throughout the procurement process;
  3. A High Impact Procurement Opportunities (HIPO) List of upcoming procurements and piloting of the new sustainable procurement Tools in a select number of procurements;
  4. A Communications & Training Plan to help guide the dissemination of information and identify key audiences to train; and
  5. Updated processes to collect and measure sustainable procurement KPI’s.

BCLC staff and senior leadership now have a deeper understanding of a high-performing sustainable procurement program, along with their own Strategy to guide the building out of such a program that will align with their Social Purpose and sustainability values.

After a year of working with Reeve, BCLC also got a kick-start on several key foundational elements of their program – giving them the tools and knowledge to become self-sufficient and evolve their practices over time.

June 29, 2020 In

Feed BC

FeedBC in Public-Sector Institutes

Photo by University of the Fraser Valley.

Feed BC in British Columbia’s (B.C.) public post-secondary sector is a partnership initiative led by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food partnered with the Ministry of Post Secondary Education and Future Skills, and 20 public post-secondary institutions (PSIs). The Feed BC PSI Partner Program aims to encourage, inspire, and support a shift to more local food in PSI campuses and beyond. Through partnering with Feed BC, PSIs showcase their commitment to sustainability goals and contribute to the economic development of local B.C. communities.

Feed BC was looking for support in planning, developing and managing the network of public sector institutions on an ongoing basis.

Reeve, in partnership with Greenchain Consulting, had previously managed an Advisory Group for Feed BC and had consulted on a Feed BC Value Chain Advisory Group Project. This experience, combined with Reeve’s network of public-sector institutions through Canadian Collaboration for Sustainable Procurement and Greenchain Consulting’s vast knowledge on sustainable food chain practices, meant they were well positioned to help Feed BC achieve success through the PSI Partner Program.

Reeve developed an initial two-year Action Plan for 2021/22 – 2022/23 which set out a vision of a Program that encourages, inspires, and supports a shift to more B.C. foods across its post-secondary Partners. The Action Plan set out four Program objectives to support this vision:

  • Develop tools and resources for the partners,
  • Facilitate collaboration and networking,
  • Build individual capacity, and
  • Deliver measurable impacts.

The Program officially launched in February 2021. Since then, Reeve has continued to support Feed BC in the ongoing management of the Program. Reeve has provided numerous deliverables, in line with the Program Action Plan, including:

  • Network Management Support
  • Tools and Resources including an Indigenous Food Processors and Supplies List and a procurement bidding resource to build local food language into food services procurement
  • 4 partner webinars on tracking expenditures, Indigenous Recipes and Traditional Foods
  • Working Group Facilitation
  • Program Evaluation, including a Progress Report
  • Facilitation support for an in-person Partner Network Summit in June 2022
  • 1:1 support for PSIs looking to track their local food expenditures
  • PSI recruitment and onboarding support
  • A 2023/24 – 2024/25 Program Action Plan

Since launching in 2021, 20 of the 25 B.C. PSIs have committed to being Feed BC partners, the majority of which are now meeting and exceeding a 30% local food target set out by the ministry. The Feed BC Network has also received positive feedback annual review meetings, from webinars and working sessions. Reeve has developed a 2023/24 – 2024/25 Program Action Plan, which sets a roadmap for the Program’s progress to continue.

June 29, 2020 In

BC Ferries

Sustainable Procurement Benchmarking & Action Planning

 

BC Ferries is pursuing their journey of sustainability leadership in the marine transportation industry, with commitments to support the Provincial Government’s GHG emissions reduction targets.

Through this effort, BC Ferries wanted to take their sustainable procurement practice to the next level of impact. To do this, they first needed to know where they were starting from, identify program gaps, and set out priority action areas informed from best practices.

BC Ferries turned to Reeve Consulting to help them understand their own current state, learn about sustainable procurement best practices, and benchmark themselves against peer organizations. An added benefit of carrying out this project, was closer engagement among the procurement, environment, and client departments, brought together by Reeve.

BC Ferries also sought to tell their story in a simple and compelling way; in response, Reeve delivered an infographic to showcase BC Ferries’ starting point on their sustainable procurement journey to internal stakeholders.

BC Ferries quickly gained an understanding of what a high-performing best practice sustainable procurement program could look like, engaged internal champions, and now, is ready to steer into the next phase of development on sustainable procurement with guidance from Reeve.

June 29, 2020 In

Thompson Rivers University

Sustainable Purchasing Guide & High Impact Procurement Opportunities List and Sustainability Factsheets

 

Reeve Consulting worked with Thompson Rivers University (TRU) to develop a Sustainable Purchasing Guide and High Impact Procurement Opportunities (HIPO) List.

The Guide directly supports TRU’s Campus Strategic Sustainability Plan by providing staff across its three campuses with guidance on how to include sustainability within standard procurement processes and departmental operations.

This Guide is organized by procurement type, from direct procurements with purchasing cards to requests for proposals (RFPs), and a simple set of steps for each procurement type. It also contains the following tools:

  • Risk and Opportunity Assessment Checklist
  • Supplier Leadership Questionnaire
  • Life Cycle Analysis Assessment Tool
  • Total Cost of Ownership Worksheet

This deliverable was then presented to TRU’s Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee, alongside a communications plan.

In Phase 2 of this project, Reeve brought together stakeholders to decide on where sustainable procurement should be applied in the upcoming contracting and low-value purchasing schedule. Informed by departmental interviews and a workshop, the High Impact Procurement Opportunities (HIPO) List identified:

  • Categories with high spend and/or high potential for environmental and social impact
  • Categories in which contracts are up for tendering, renewal, or renegotiation in the near term
  • Categories where there is market readiness to provide more sustainable alternatives

In addition, Reeve developed 5 Sustainability Factsheets on specific product categories—from professional services to electric machines, catering and more. These Factsheets were distributed

to the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee and staff across the university to support more sustainable decentralized purchasing.

 

“This project has generated more focus and momentum for the next level of sustainable procurement across all departments of TRU. This was a very significant opportunity to come together to learn what each other has done and what they aspire to implement next. We came out of the project with clear successes to share and tools to engage the campus to take action in key categories.” – Jim Gudjonson, Director of the Office of Environment and Sustainability

October 10, 2018 In

City of Mississauga

Sustainable Purchasing Policy & Implementation Plan

Sustainable practices like minimizing waste, energy consumption and packaging is nothing new for the City of Mississauga; however, these practices are ad hoc, meaning it is not nearly as effective as it can be. In comparison to cities of comparable size, there was a lot of potential for improvement within the city’s Sustainable Purchasing practices.

Mississauga - Sustainable ProcurementReeve worked with the City of Mississauga to develop a sustainable purchasing policy and a three-year implementation plan. The project involved in-depth internal and external stakeholder consultation and a benchmarking exercise. The policy takes an inclusive approach to a range of key environmental, social and ethical objectives. The policy and the implementation plan encourages City staff to consider sustainability in the procurement process and to seek out opportunities for positive impact.

Reeve helped Mississauga embed sustainability in their procurement modernization process and apply it as part of the roll-out of their new online Enterprise Procurement Centre. We worked closely with the legal group and involved them in vetting the newly drafted policies and procedures.

At the conclusion of the project, Mississauga City Council approved the policy and the 3 Year Sustainable Procurement Strategy. This also inspired the city to put resources towards hiring a Program Coordinator to continue the Sustainable Purchasing movement by developing and rolling-out a training program for buyers, contract managers and client department teams.

“The breadth of experience and public-sector connections that Tim and the Reeve team have brought to the City’s Sustainable Procurement Initiative (SPI) has been invaluable. Their practical and proven approach gave our staff confidence that social and environmental procurement was attainable and aligned with our existing core priorities. The insights they facilitate through the CCSP Social Procurement Working Group has already allowed Mississauga to advance more effectively.” – Natalie Adams, Sustainable Purchasing Coordinator, City of Mississauga

 

Sustainable Procurement Explainer Video