Provides recommendations and guidance on how to adopt and embed sustainable procurement principles and practices across an organization and its respective supply chains and provides practical information to support implementation.

This British Standard gives recommendations and guidance on how to adopt and embed sustainable procurement principles and practices across an organization and its respective supply chains and provides practical information to support implementation. It includes guidance on measurement to help organizations assess the extent and effectiveness of their sustainable procurement activity.

The principles set out in this guide are applicable to both public and private sector organizations. However, public sector buyers comply with EU Procurement Directives [1][2] (and the Regulations that implement them in the UK [3] [4]). The EU has requirements with regard to public procurement and what can be considered throughout the qualification, tender and contracting process. It is advisable that proper legal advice always be sought. This guide provides information which is likely to be useful to public procurement but it ought to be read in conjunction with the latest Directives, Regulations and government policy. The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) also provides guidance for public sector buyers.

NOTE See Annex A for further information and reference material.

This British Standard gives detailed guidance across all stages of the procurement process and is applicable:

• to individuals and small and large organizations responsible for commissioning or procuring any form of goods, works or services regardless of sector, for own use, resale or to support service provision;

• across the public sector, private sector and third sector;

• across the whole procurement cycle including one-time purchases to ongoing contracts with long-term supplier partners;

• to individuals and organizations with sole responsibility for their purchasing needs and third parties contracted to provide outsourced procurement solutions.