University-wide procedure for environmental and sustainability requirements in purchasing and procurement

PROCEDURE
Policymaker: Sustainability Manager
Valid from: 29 March 2019
Amended as of: 24 February 2023
Registration number: V-2023-0004-15
Responsible for review and queries: KTH Sustainability Office

1. Purpose

The purpose of this procedure is to describe how environmental and sustainability requirements are defined and followed up when purchasing and procuring goods and services at KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

2. Scope/delimitation

The procedure covers purchasing and procurement, as well as call-offs from framework agreements. A life cycle perspective must be taken into account when purchasing, procurement and call-offs take place. It will be implemented on the basis of what KTH controls, i.e. what is possible for KTH to control and influence.

3. Definitions

See the glossary under Inköp och upphandling [Purchasing and procurement] on the KTH intranet for definitions of procurement terms.

OS

Operational Support

4. Responsibilities

The Head of Procurement is responsible for planning, implementation, monitoring and documentation of procurement procedures above the direct award threshold.

The Sustainability Manager is responsible for providing support to the procurement group, the schools and OS in terms of environmental and sustainability requirements for procurement procedures, purchases and call-offs, as well as support for the monitoring of environmental and sustainability requirements during the contract period.

The head of school and University Director are responsible for ensuring that purchasing and procurement procedures are followed and that environmental and sustainability requirements are defined wherever possible. They are also responsible for ensuring that the environmental and sustainability requirements are followed up during the contract period and that there are local procedures for purchasing and procurement/call-off that describe how environmental and sustainability requirements are taken into account, and how this is documented.

Fellow-workers at KTH who are responsible for purchasing, procurement procedures and call-offs are responsible for following the applicable procedures.

5. Implementation

Procedures for how purchases, procurement procedures and call-offs are to be conducted can be found under Inköp och upphandling [Purchasing and procurement] on the KTH intranet.

Procurement above the direct award threshold

1. The Sustainability Manager and the Head of Procurement review the procurement plan annually (normally at the beginning of the year) and document which the procurement procedures in which environmental requirements should be defined.
2. The procurement group invites the KTH Sustainability Office to participate in the procurement procedures where environmental and sustainability requirements have been deemed relevant.
3. The KTH Sustainability Office develops proposals for requirements, which are documented in tender documents after discussion with the case officer and the responsible procurement officer. Requirements are included in the tender documents.
4. The procurement group contacts the KTH Sustainability Office when it is time to follow up on defined requirements in the established contract. The KTH Sustainability Office is involved in following up on the requirements.

Direct procurement procedures

The purchasing officer or a designated purchaser at the schools/OS that carry out direct procurement procedures is responsible for ensuring that environmental and sustainability requirements are defined wherever possible. Schools/OS have local procedures containing descriptions of how to proceed.

Call-offs from framework agreements

In the case of call-off, the purchasing officer or purchaser must consider – if so permitted by the contract – whether environmental and sustainability requirements can be defined. What is possible is set out in each contract.

Follow-up

The following information is followed up each year and reported to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency:

1. Proportion of procurement procedures and call-offs where environmental requirements are defined, out of the total number of procurement procedures and call-offs.
2. Number of procurement procedures above the threshold value where energy requirements according to the Regulation on the purchase of energy-efficient goods, services and buildings by government agencies (2014:480) have been defined.
3. Financial value of registered procurement procedures and call-offs with environmental requirements, out of the total value of procurement procedures and call-offs per year.
4. Description of the factors that have influenced the results in a positive or negative direction.
5. Description of any problems or gaps in the material, and how and when the public authority plans to address these.
6. Description of how the information is produced.
7. Whether the public authority has defined its own environmental requirements in the case of call-offs against government framework agreements, where possible.

The Head of Procurement is responsible for ensuring that the information requested in the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s reporting is received by the KTH Sustainability Office by 20 January each year. Information gathering is coordinated and initiated by the KTH Sustainability Office.

6. Documentation

The procurement group’s procurement plan.

KTH’s report to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency

7. Change log