Approaching Sustainability Questions in Public Sector Tendering

In public sector tenders, questions around suppliers’ sustainability and environmental practices are a cornerstone of quality responses in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) section. As such, it is crucial to anticipate and begin considering how best to respond to questions around your environmental and sustainability approaches, and how this will be best represented in your submission.

The importance of sustainability in public sector tenders

Since 2019, the government have modified initial legislation to aim for net zero carbon emissions by 2050, with further commitments made to reduce emissions by 80% by 2035 from the current targets.

With these figures and reports in mind, it is understandable that the government enforces binding legislation and guidelines to ensure that businesses consider and curtail their impact on the environment. For example, PPN 06/21 requires bidders to submit a Carbon Reduction Plan for all central government contracts above a certain value, and this has been adopted as an optional measure by local authorities.

This means that more and more buyers, and subsequently their tenders, are requiring bidders to outline their commitments to sustainability efforts. Sustainability questions are weighted heavily in the assessment process and, in some cases, the question receives more marking consideration than other common responses – such as value for money, mobilisation or health and safety.

In short, explaining your sustainability practices and demonstrating your efforts to reduce your impact on the environment are very important in the process of winning a tender.

Sustainability best practice

A good place to start in an environmental and sustainability practices response is to consider the policies, processes and procedures that you already have in place. Think about what legislation your business abides by and consider what is outlined in your environmental and sustainability policy. To inform content and add structure to your response, consider top-level details such as:

• Dedicated member of staff responsible for environmental and sustainability considerations, such as your HSEQ manager
• What areas of the businesses your policy covers and how often this is reviewed, amended and approved
• Any environmental and sustainability certifications and accreditations you possess – for example, ISO 14001:2018 or the Green Apple Award.

By demonstrating your understanding of sustainability and environmental management, you will be able to show the assessors that sustainability is at the heart of your business model and works or service delivery – integrated into wider business operations.

Business changes for sustainability

After you have considered the good sustainable policies and practices that you already have in place, consider any small changes that your business has made. It may be difficult to recognise the small changes, but these can play a crucial part in demonstrating a commitment to sustainability and good environmental management..

Speaking to your staff about sustainability practices is an ideal way of gathering an inventory of all the small things that your organisation does to make a positive change over time. Additionally, by consulting your staff on this topic, you may find that they have made small, individual changes that you were not even aware of, including:

• Car share schemes which reduces carbon footprint due to fewer vehicles used to transport staff to and from work
• Recycling initiatives to reuse and recycle materials where possible, adopting the principles of waste hierarchy
• Changes to lighting, electricity and ‘vampire’ switches which automatically turn off machines and PCs when unused, reducing energy consumption.

Small changes go a long way, and it is important to ensure that both the large- and small-scale sustainability efforts are mentioned in your tender.

Sustainability targets and benchmarks

After explaining your foundations of sustainability practices and the small scale but long-term improvements that have been successful in your business, you must confirm that you are willing to continue this process.

Include your sustainability targets for the next year, with specific detail about your proposals for reducing emissions and waste. This could include:

• Paperless or fully electronic communication, which eliminates waste
• Consolidated deliveries to and from site and depots, proactively reducing road miles (one of the most common emissions sources)
• Percentage of materials recycled and diverted from landfill, which can normally be obtained from a waste management provider
• Phased replacement of vehicle fleet or office appliances and energy consumption – ensuring these are realistic and achievable.

Lastly, illustrate that as a business you are aware of your current sustainability performance and understand that this performance can always be improved.

Continuous improvement in sustainability

An important aspect to consider when approaching the topic of sustainability in tenders is showing that the practices you have in place will continuously improve over the contract term. There is no benefit to using examples or setting targets which cannot be achieved or improved thereafter.

You must remember that contracting authorities are looking for suppliers who will be reliable in every aspect of their work, and this includes a willingness, commitment and ability to improve their practices. Examples of this include:

• Setting measurable targets and benchmarks around sustainability measures – for instance, percentage of waste diverted from landfill, tracking progress at regular intervals against these
• Providing training and awareness to front-line and administrative staff around sustainable and environmentally friendly measures – normally, this can be incorporated as a training module in e-learning systems
• Stay abreast with industry best practice and legislation by subscribing to industry newsletters, ensuring this is circulated to staff.

Lastly, ensure your policies and procedures are regularly (at least annually) reviewed and updated, in accordance with changes to legislation or any other best practice measures.

Support with sustainability tender responses

At Executive Compass, our expert bid and tender writers draft high-quality, comprehensive responses to sustainability questions every day. As such, we are ideally positioned to provide our perspective on best practice approaches and what evaluators are looking for – substantiated by our 85%, fully auditable success rate.

To find out more, contact us for a free, 30-minute consultation at info@executivecompass.co.uk or via telephone 0800 612 5563.