Innovation in procurement
Early adoption
As long ago as 2003 SPL’s Barbara Morton was seconded to the (then) UK Department of Trade and Industry’s Environmental Industries Unit (EIU) to project manage the public procurement strand of activity for the Environmental Innovations Advisory Group (EIAG) - under Lord Sainsbury’s chairmanship.
With Jennie Price, Chief Executive of WRAP, she developed what became known as the ‘Forward Commitment Procurement’ model. This involved industrialists, investors and other members of the EIAG acting as assessors of ‘candidate’ technologies. It was from this that the HMP Prison Mattresses project was developed.
A Fast Track process was devised by Barbara and the team in which technologies were assessed against a set of Forward Commitment criteria developed by the project team. Technologies were assessed in the areas of waste, water, construction and energy amongst others and representing an ‘early adopter’ of circular economy principles.
In Step 1 of the process, each assessor had up to 25 examples of candidate technologies. Preliminary assessment of these examples was carried out against draft Forward Commitment criteria.
Early adoption
As long ago as 2003 SPL’s Barbara Morton was seconded to the (then) UK Department of Trade and Industry’s Environmental Industries Unit (EIU) to project manage the public procurement strand of activity for the Environmental Innovations Advisory Group (EIAG) - under Lord Sainsbury’s chairmanship.
With Jennie Price, Chief Executive of WRAP, she developed what became known as the ‘Forward Commitment Procurement’ model. This involved industrialists, investors and other members of the EIAG acting as assessors of ‘candidate’ technologies. It was from this that the HMP Prison Mattresses project was developed.
A Fast Track process was devised by Barbara and the team in which technologies were assessed against a set of Forward Commitment criteria developed by the project team. Technologies were assessed in the areas of waste, water, construction and energy amongst others and representing an ‘early adopter’ of circular economy principles.
In Step 1 of the process, each assessor had up to 25 examples of candidate technologies. Preliminary assessment of these examples was carried out against draft Forward Commitment criteria.
Recent application of innovation in procurement
- Principles applicable to the above have been applied in subsequent work, including for CleanTech Innovations Geelong, Australia and discussions with procurers and others regarding ‘Green Public Procurement for Innovation and Growth', innovation partnerships and procurement of innovation.
- This has included recent work (2018/19) focusing on leadership in innovation and circular construction, in conjunction with Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation (ECCI) and construction contractors, such as Balfour Beatty, McLoughlin and Harvey, Kier, Robertson and Sir Robert McAlpine.
- NHS Scotland is committed to identifying opportunities to apply more circular approaches within products and services. Research was undertaken by SPL, in conjunction with Eunomia Research and Consulting, Ditto Sustainability and Sustainable Global Resources, on behalf of Zero Waste Scotland and NHS Scotland. The project highlighted potential opportunities for applying circular procurement models to Furniture (non-medical), ICT (non-medical), Walking Aids, Small Medical Devices and Single Use Devices. In conjunction with NHS suppliers and commodity managers, the project determined the business case for transforming approaches, taking into account financial, environmental and social factors as well as critical considerations such as clinical effectiveness and safety.
More Information
Contact Barbara Morton barbara@sustainableprocurement.eu.com or Philip Duddell philip@sustainableprocurement.eu.com
Contact Barbara Morton barbara@sustainableprocurement.eu.com or Philip Duddell philip@sustainableprocurement.eu.com