Procurement
Ellie
they get food from. (This is Durham). And I was told that it is
basically illegal for them to choose local food because by law they are
obliged to get quotes from everywhere in the EU and then go with that
which offers best value i.e. not necessarily the cheapest but the one
which gives them the quality they want for the price they want.
Apparently they are precluded from making one of their criteria that it
is grown locally. What I'm wondering however, is if this could be a
matter of wording it. Does anybody know whether it would be possible to
say "we will buy food which has only travelled x miles"? Or make some
kind of other environmental criteria? After all, if they don't have the
free choice of who they deal with then how can it be said we live in a
free society? For the matter of that if purely economic forces
compulsorily drive everything they do how is it that they can choose to
become a fairtrade university? Any thoughts people?
Su.Envi...@uea.ac.uk
Please let me intoroduce myself. My name is Ben and I am the new
Environment Officer for the University of East Anglia, Norwich.
The issue you raise here is adopted by all public(and private) companies
the world over. Indeed, in order to obtain a product of some kind (for
example, 100 apples), the organisation in question needs to ask for at
least 3 estimates from different suppliers. These estimates have a marking
scheme (e.g.Priority 1: price, Priority 2: quality, Priority 3: quantity).
In most cases, these factors do not follow environmental standards but
economic ones.
I certainly don't want to jump to conclusions but I believe that it's
complete bollocks that adding or substituting a criteria for a more
environmentally friendly one is illegal!!! What needs to be done is to
review the existing marking scheme and come up zith a more local,
sustainable one.
I hope this helps.
All the best,
Ben
Tim Davies
There is some useful information on this in the literature and guides on
switching to Fairtrade procurement policies, particular around page 35 in
this document:
http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/downloads/pdf/local_authority_guide.pdf
Broadly, as I understand, Universities as public bodies are bound by EU
procurement regulations, and some may also be bound by specific 'best value'
policies (unlikely - but if so - a search on 'Best Value' and 'procurement'
should turn up useful stuff).
The following is quoted from the document linked above (for Local Authority,
read University, for Fairtrade, read Local Food):
"European Union (EU) procurement rules form the basis of the current
regulatory
framework. The resultant guidelines set out in conjunction with the
Department of
Trade and Industry and the Procurement Policy Division of HM Treasury
specify
procedures that apply when public authorities acquire goods or services when
contracts exceed certain threshold monetary values. However, all procurement
contracts are subject to the treaties of the European Union. Contract rules
state
that equality of treatment must ensure no discrimination on national origin
and
that transparent criteria be used in the selection of tenderers. In general
these
state that procurement decisions should be based on value for money through
competition via open or restricted (when only selected persons can tender)
award
procedures.
Objective criteria standards (like Fairtrade marking) applied to contracts
must
therefore be internationally applicable or at least EU-based rather then
just
discriminating in favour of UK goods. Under EC procedures, local authorities
are not bound to accept the lowest priced bid. Value for money (the
economically most advantageous tender) is the optimum combination of whole
life costs and quality (or fitness for purpose) to meet the users'
requirements. The
users' requirements on quality or standard of service should be specified by
reference to recognised standards. The reference to ' quality' to meet the
customers requirements enables authorities to specify what they need to meet
their own operational and policy objectives while contributing to local,
national,
european, and international objectives on sustainable development.
Therefore, if a local authority were to adopt specific policies based on the
adoption of a core value of Sustainable Development or a fair trade motion,
this
would enable the formulation of a precise specification on what is required
in
contracts placed by that local authority. It is then the task of the
procurement
officer to obtain the best value for money in meeting that particular
requirement."
In my experience of Fairtrade campaigning - many procurement officers don't
really understand the legal requirements, why they are there, or what they
mean in practise: Basically, the requirements exist to protect against
political patronage being excercised in procurement policies (i.e. to stop
local authorities switching to really expensive local suppliers just to get
votes) or to prevent protectionist policies being excercised in procurement
by the back door (e.g. if a local authority had a policy to only buy British
at any cost and quality then it would in effect be setting up barriers to
trade which EU membership is supposed to remove).
However - crucially - EU policy does not prevent an institution specifying
reasonable requirements concerning sustainability (i.e. looking to minimise
food miles / use organic food etc). As I understand it, a public institution
cannot categorically specific it will only buy food from within a given
radius - but it can weigh the distance food has travelled very highly in its
decision making process - and can opt for a more expensive option which has
travelled less over a air-freighted cheap option. In fact, wider EU policy
of sustainability may even encourage institutions to do this.
So in terms of how all that might answer the original question, I think
wording wise the most that could probably be said would be 'minimising
distance travelled', or 'minimising the environmental impact of...' in a
policy - and then you would be able to make the case that there are
comparable price local goods available which meet with those criteria. It is
also worth exploring the 'quality' aspect of the EU regulations - to make
the case that locally sourced products are often of a higher quality also -
as price differences are often easier to justify on this basis.
Tim