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

PROCEDURE
Policymaker: Sustainability Manager
Valid from: 29 March 2019
Amended as of: November 25, 2024
Registration number: V-2023-0004-15 version 11
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 and guidelines on how purchasing, procurement, and call-offs should be conducted can be found under:

• Purchasing and Procurement on KTH’s intranet

• Guidelines on Procurement and Purchasing

• Procurements exceeding the direct procurement threshold

The Head of Sustainability and Head of Procurement annually (usually at the beginning of the year) review the procurement plan and document which procurements should include environmental requirements.

The procurement group invites the KTH Sustainability Office to participate in procurements where environmental and sustainability requirements are deemed relevant.

The KTH Sustainability Office proposes requirements, which are documented in the tender documents after discussion with the subject matter expert and responsible procurement officer. The requirements are included in the tender documents.

The procurement group contacts the KTH Sustainability Office when it is time to follow up on the set requirements in an established contract. The KTH Sustainability Office participates in the follow-up process.

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

The purchasing officer or requester should consider, if allowed by the agreement, whether environmental and sustainability requirements can be set. What is possible is stated in each contract.

Follow-up
The following information is monitored annually and reported to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency:

• Proportion of procurements and call-offs with environmental requirements out of the total number.

• Number of procurements exceeding the threshold where energy requirements according to Ordinance (2014:480) on government agencies' procurement of energy-efficient goods, services, and buildings were set.

• Economic value of procurements and call-offs with environmental requirements out of the total annual procurement and call-off value.

• Description of factors that have influenced the results positively or negatively.

• Description of any issues and gaps in the data, as well as how and when the agency plans to address them.

• Description of how the information was collected.

• Whether the agency has set its own environmental requirements when calling off from government framework agreements, where possible.

The Head of Procurement is responsible for ensuring that the information required for the report to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency is available to the KTH Sustainability Office by January 20 each year. The information collection is coordinated and initiated by the KTH Sustainability Office.

6. Documentation

6. Documentation

• Guidelines for Purchasing and Procurement V-2024-0440 1.2

• Procurement Group’s Procurement Plan

• KTH’s Reporting to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency

7. Change log