The Falmouth Exeter Plus procurement team is committed to embedding a responsible approach into all aspects of the procurement process and our wider activities. As an organisation we understand that the procurement of goods, services and works has a significant impact on the environment, society, and the economy.
To enable this, the team has developed a three-year strategy to focus on supporting Exeter and Falmouth universities climate emergency declarations and the development and growth of our supply chain partners.
Lee Hallam, FX Plus Director of Commercial Operations, said: “We have always looked to source locally where possible and are now focused on increasing and developing our local supply chain even further over the next three years.
“Alongside this we continue to work with both our current and new suppliers to ensure they have robust carbon reduction plans in place as part of our supply agreements. Covering all aspects of procurement, including information technology, catering and retail, facilities management, estates and technical services as well as professional and academic services, we can support our suppliers in helping us become more sustainable and more efficient.”
Recently, the team was independently audited by national sustainable procurement specialists Action Sustainability which analysed policies, procedures and processes and held a workshop with procurement and contract management teams to ascertain how FX Plus measured against the international ISO accreditation for sustainable procurement and supply chain management (IS020400).
FX Plus was assessed as having an ‘established’ approach to responsible procurement and is now continuing to develop a strategy and an action plan aiming to be leading in the field of responsible procurement. This strategy includes:
- Mandatory sustainable scoring in all tender documents, requiring bidders to submit their carbon emissions reduction plans over the duration of the contract. This will be measured and reported as part of the quarterly supplier performance review meetings.
- Mandatory requirement for all our suppliers to register on our supplier sustainable toolkit ‘Net Positives’. This requires suppliers to upload their responsible procurement action plans, focusing on environmental, social, and economic activities and policies.
- Full analysis of our supply chain to establish our strategy to contribute to the growth and development of local supply partnerships.
- A new e-tendering/ contract management system that means contracts and supplier development can be managed more effectively and collaboratively.
- Supplier performance ratings which are agreed with the suppliers and reviewed quarterly. Categories include commercial, operations and logistics; responsible/sustainable procurement; health and safety and finance. Through this tool and the CCAR report (containment, corrective action report) we can support and develop our supply partners using a more collaborative and effective approach.
