Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games

Sustainable Procurement Policy & Social Compliance Programming

Sustainability is a vital element of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games. The Organizing Committee (VANOC) identifies sustainability as one of its core values, making explicit reference to it in their vision statement. VANOC’s plan for the 2010 Winter Games is to leave a positive legacy through the 4 pillars of sustainability – environmental, social, ethical and Indigenous – and demonstrating how this can be incorporated throughout the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It was expected that almost every VANOC bid request would have a requirement for suppliers to provide information about sustainability. Reeve Consulting was hired to design, develop and implement the VANOC’s Buy Smart Program. With VANOC’s goals for sustainability, the Buy Smart program ensured that goods and services procured by the Committee came from suppliers that delivered social and environmental value. Buy Smart incorporated criteria into the procurement process, including requirements designed to engage the Indigenous business community and social enterprises.

VANOC’s Buy Smart Program achieved award winning status for it’s impressive Sustainability and Indigenous Inclusive framework. In the final year of Games preparations, over $2.3 million dollars of goods and services were sourced from Indigenous contractors and entrepreneurs and social enterprises from the Vancouver area. This was achieved by direct contracting as well as supporting major suppliers to collaborate with, and subcontracting to Indigenous businesses and social enterprises.