Case Study

Buying Force – Assessing Compliance with Sustainability Standards

Overview

Buying Force (our procurement contractors) have developed a series of procedures to monitor CR and sustainability standards amongst our supplier base, including at Pre Qualification and Tender stage and also amongst our existing preferred suppliers.

What Buying Force did

Buying Force is a 50:50 joint venture agreement between PRUPIM and DTZ. Buying Force has established a portfolio of high quality preferred suppliers across the UK (around 50 in total), who offer a diverse range of products and services such as maintenance, security, business support and utilities. Buying Force’s clients include PRUPIM, DTZ and other leading property companies and occupiers.

All suppliers have been tested and work within highly competitive price and service level frameworks. Compliance with sustainability standards has been an integral part of Buying Force’s supplier selection and appraisal criteria for several years now (although just recently formalised), including:

• Initial pre-qualification requirements that each potential supplier has the framework upon which credible sustainable standards can be achieved. 
• A further appraisal at a potential supplier’s premises prior to acceptance onto the Buying Force Preferred List, to ensure that paper submissions of their credentials submitted at the earlier pre-qualification stage can be verified.
• Sustainability standards and other corporate ethics are also reinforced at tender stage to ensure continued relevance to PRUPIM’s needs at the point of a contract being awarded to a supplier.

In late 2006, in order to establish a benchmark for sustainability standards in procurement, Buying Force issued a questionnaire to all existing preferred suppliers. Results from this questionnaire will enable such a benchmark to be set and standards to be monitored. It will be used to highlight areas where existing suppliers can improve their performance and to assist them to do so. It will also be used to ensure that performance in this area is continually challenged, standards are maintained and perennial poor performers are removed from the Preferred List.

The benefit

By screening potential and existing suppliers for their adherence to sustainability standards, PRUPIM seeks to ensure that supply chain risk is minimised (although it can never be totally eliminated). Furthermore, we are able to use our close working relationship with Buying Force to our cost advantage when procuring contractors for managed assets.