We have a responsibility to consider the protection of the natural world during the procurement process. As such we take into account the long and short term environmental impacts of their requirements for goods, services, utilities and works when making decisions. This can refer to examining the whole-life cost of an item or the entire production process of a work or service.
The Sustainable Procurement Duty has been developed to introduce the concept of sustainable public procurement in Scotland.
Sustainable public procurement aims to make the best use of public money, helping us to achieve our overarching purpose and strategic objectives.
The sustainable procurement duty, outlined in Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, aligns with our purpose to create a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth.
It is underpinned by the National Performance Framework and Scotland's Economic Strategy.
The sustainable procurement duty requires that before a contracting authority buys anything, it must think about how it can improve the social, environmental and economic wellbeing of the area in which it operates, with a particular focus on reducing inequality.
It also requires a contracting authority to consider how its procurement processes can facilitate the involvement of SMEs, third sector bodies and supported businesses, and how public procurement can be used to promote innovation.
Compliance with the sustainable procurement duty is the mechanism through which public procurement contributes to and tracks its contribution to our overarching purpose.
Each contracting authority must set out in its procurement strategy how it intends to comply with the duty, and must report annually on progress.
Below is further information:
• Government Buying Standards
