I. Why respond to the diagnostic based on the 2020 Sustainable Procurement Barometer?
The Barometer survey will provide you with an objective report on where your organization stands in terms of sustainable procurement.
At completion of the survey, you will gain a customized fact sheet with a summary of your results. The fact sheet provides a confidential benchmark of your performance with the results of other respondents across Canada.
Taking the Barometer survey is also a quick and easy way to update your knowledge of sustainable procurement. The survey is based on reliable and up to date information on sustainable procurement. It was designed by ECPAR and peer reviewed by researchers from Laval University and the International Reference Center for Life Cycle of Products, Services and Systems (CIRAIG).
The collective findings of the survey will be presented in the 2020 Sustainable Procurement Barometer Report, which will provide a statistical overview of the state of sustainable procurement in Canada. The report is part of a broader campaign to advance sustainable procurement and progress on the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
If your Barometer results indicate you are a sustainable procurement leader, you will be asked to submit supporting documentation to validate your responses and your organization may be selected for a feature in the 2020 Barometer Report. More information on this will be announced during the 2020 Barometer campaign.
II. Response time
Completing this questionnaire will take approximately 30 to 45 minutes of your time. Your session can be paused, and your progress saved at any time as long as you have provided an active email address.
- You will need to provide your annual revenue/budget and the volume of your purchases in Canadian dollars.
- 95% of the questions are multiple choice.
- 5% of the questions relate to quantitative data, such as the number of employees dedicated to sustainable procurement or the share of your products and services labelled as sustainable. If your organization does not yet have data available, you may skip these questions and continue to complete the questionnaire.
- Some questions are conditional on previous responses, so not all questions may apply to you. It is normal if your survey questions are not numbered consecutively.
- Supporting documents will be requested from organizations reaching levels 4 (maturity) and 5 (exemplarity).
III. Who should participate?
Public organizations such as federal and provincial government ministries and agencies, municipalities, and health, social services and educational institutions of all sizes may participate. Public organizations are asked to provide data on their own procurements, excluding any consolidated purchasing or standing offers.
Businesses and non-profit organizations with over 500 employees may participate.
An alternative version of the questionnaire, better adapted to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), will be available online from July 1st, 2020.
The questionnaire has been designed for completion by your purchasing team. Most organizations find it effective to designate a purchasing point person to collaborate with sustainability, environment, and technical leads to gather data. Please feel free to forward selected survey questions to relevant individuals.
IV. Confidentiality
This research is in accordance with Université Laval’s policies and regulations related to research and innovation.
In order to participate in the study, you will be asked to identify yourself. However, please note that your survey results will be kept confidential.
Survey findings presented in the Barometer Report will not be associated with the name of an organization, be it directly or indirectly. Individual Barometer results will not be made public nor shared with a third party. If your organization has exemplary achievements in an aspect of sustainable procurement, you may be contacted for permission to feature your accomplishment in the report.
Data obtained from Quebec’s public organisations will be shared with the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change, which will treat them with the same level of confidentiality as part of its role as coordinator of the government's eco-sustainable procurement initiative.
V. Components of Sustainable Procurement
In 2016, ECPAR identified five key components of sustainable procurement:
- Vision
- Policies and Governance
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Operationalization, and
- Measurement.
In effect, the implementation of sustainable procurement follows a management logic. To begin, organizations establish a vision of what they want to accomplish. They then enact their vision by means of policies and establish governance to ensure the successful completion of their project. Organizations then implement and measure its progress and impacts. When it comes to complex issues that warrant important changes, they mobilize their stakeholders across the board to ensure that the project meets their expectations and addresses the most relevant issues.
The 2020 sustainable procurement indicator set for this 3rd edition of the Barometer survey reflects the most recent available research and alignment with the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.
VI. Before you start
The survey questionnaire will contain several common sustainable procurement terms, which are defined below:
Circular Procurement/Purchasing: Is known as a different way of acquiring goods and services that promotes consideration of the whole lifecycle of products throughout their supply chain. A focus on the use and services provided by a product instead of the ownership catalyses the development of new business models, which are expected to be necessary to promote a circular economy.
Commonly used product/Commodity: General-purpose goods that most organizations acquire on a regular basis for basic operational needs.
Green Procurement/Purchasing: The procurement of products and services that have a reduced impact on the environment, such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, hazardous and toxic substances, and pollution, including plastic waste.
Life Cycle Cost (LLC): In addition to total cost of ownership, refers to the broader list of costs related to environmental or social externalities (i.e. costs not borne by the organization) throughout the life cycle of the product or service.
Local Procurement/Purchasing: The procurement of goods and services near their original place of production, processing or use. The criteria used to define a local purchase is the geographical region, the distance from the place of production, and/or the origin of the enterprise (for example the percentage of capital held locally, the place of registration, the composition of key personnel, as well as volume of purchases, investments and local taxes). Different agencies specify different definitions of what constitutes local procurement.
Procurement/Expenditure Analysis: Refers to the analysis of purchases or expenditures by distinct product and service categories in order to determine the dollar volumes for each category.
Requester: the individual that initiates a procurement process within an organization (client, client department, technical authority).
Risk Analysis: The analysis of environmental and social risks associated with a purchase in order to determine an organization’s degree of vulnerability.
Social Economy Enterprise: An enterprise operated, in accordance with the principles set out […], by a cooperative, mutual society or association endowed with the legal personality of non-profit organization (NPO) and whose activities include selling or exchanging goods or services. Social economy enterprises include social integration enterprises, adapted enterprises and cooperatives.
Social Enterprise: A revenue generating enterprise with the dual goal of earning a profit and achieving a specific social, cultural, community economic and/or environmental purpose or outcome. There are many types of social enterprises in Canada.
Strategic Goods and Services : Refers to assets that are considered necessary for the accomplishment of an organisation’s core mission.
Supply Chain Mapping: Refers to creating a global portrait of the suppliers that make up the supply chain, according to product and service categories. Mapping allows a better understanding of the opportunities, strengths and weaknesses in an organization’s supply chain.
Sustainability clauses in contractual agreements: Clauses that ensure the continuous monitoring and improvement of social or environmental performance for the duration of the contract.
Sustainable and Circular Procurement: Is also used by both public and private sector organisations to ensure that their purchasing reflects broader goals linked to resource efficiency, climate change, social responsibility and economic resilience, for example.
Sustainable Development: Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Sustainable development is based on a long-term vision that takes into account the inseparable nature of the environmental, social and economic dimensions of development activities.
Sustainable Procurement/Purchasing: Means making sure that the products and services an organisation buys achieve value for money and generate benefits not only for the organisation, but also for the environment, society and the economy. This is achieved by integrating environmental, social and economic criteria into the process of purchasing goods and services, taking into account the impacts throughout the life cycle of products and services. Sustainable procurement entails both Green Procurement and socially responsible procurement
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): Refers to the total cost to an organization for a good or service, from the time it is purchased, through its use and until it is disposed of at the end of its useful life.
If you would like to know more about the different certifications mentioned in this questionnaire, please refer to the eco-label directory of the Ministry of the Environment and the Fight against Climate Change (MELCC).
