Sustainable Administration Hub: Procurement

• Benchmark 20: Increase the percentage of paper products on campus that include post-consumer recycled content. Target not met​.

• Benchmark 24: Encourage use of sustainable and/or recyclable materials and containers in place of polystyrene by developing environmentally preferable purchasing guidelines. Preferable Purchasing Guidelines Created​.

• Benchmark 28: Increase purchase of non-food local goods and services and environmentally preferable goods. Alternative baseline determined​.

• Benchmark 29: Increase purchase of environmentally preferable computer products. Target exceeded​.

• Benchmark 31: Develop sustainability guidelines for concessionaires and franchisees. Target in progress. ​

Benefits of the Goal

• Improved reputation
• Reduced emissions
• Increased community engagement
• Increased economic activity
• Improved human health
• Reduced operational costs

Costs of the Goal

• Staff time
• Capital cost

Goal: Increase purchasing of sustainable and/or recycled products across a range of categories:

• Increase the use of recycled paper from 7% to 50%
• Increase the use of EPEAT Gold Electronics (as defined in EPEAT Registry) from 94% to 95%
• Increase the use of Green Cleaning Products (as defined in the AASHE STARS Technical Manual for OP 13) from 51% to 65%
• Increase the use of Alternative Fuel Vehicles (as defined in the  AASHE STARS Technical Manual for OP15)from 1.4% to 3%
• Increase the use of battery-powered lawn care products from 0% to 50%
• Increase the number of Concessionaires / Franchisees with Sustainable Purchasing (to be defined in 2020 OHIO Sustainable Purchasing guidelines) in contract​ to 100%
• Increase the total sustainable purchases (to be defined in 2020 OHIO Sustainable Purchasing guidelines) to 30%

• Review and revise existing sustainability purchasing guidelines to direct progress toward sub-goals.​

• Educate University purchasers on benefits of, and encourage use of, sustainability purchasing guidelines, both for bid and non-bid purchases.  ​

• Create model RFP criteria and protocol for bid purchases and evaluation tools for non-bid purchases, and include carbon emissions as criteria​

• Incorporate sustainability practices into contracts for concessionaires and franchisees​

• Develop strategies to monitor non-centralized purchasing, especially post-consumer content in paper purchasing​

• Mark vendors or products meeting certain sustainable criteria in BobcatBuy to incentivize increased sustainable procurement​

• Create bi-monthly sustainable purchasing group meeting to monitor progress​

• Develop an assessment tool for social return on investment, especially for local purchases​

Sustainable Purchasing Best Practices

Best Practice Table

Product Standard

Disposal Guidelines

• When a good is no longer desired, the owner must contact Moving and Surplus to have the product entered into the University's surplus inventory.
• Moving and Surplus may deem the product inappropriate for surplus inventory. In such a situation, the user will make a good faith effort to repurpose or recycle the product. Recycling pick-up can be requested by emailing the Office of Refuse and Recycling at recycle@ohio.edu.
• All electronic products should be disposed of at campus-designated locations for electronic waste

Hub Supported Initiatives

Initiative (Lead department/Unit)	SCAP Alignment
Participation in Pouring Rights RFP process (Procurement) Public bid process to choose new beverage supplier for Ohio University Culinary Services and Athletics.  Director of Sustainability on RFP committee.	Increase purchasing of sustainable and/or recycled products across a range of categories. (100% of concessionaires have sustainable purchasing in contract by 2026).
Culinary Services Local Food Procurement (Culinary Services) Culinary Services is a key player in the Sugar Bush grant-funded Farm to Ohio Working Group focusing on local food systems and local food procurement.  Office of Sustainability staff support this working group.	Increase purchasing of sustainable and/or recycled products across a range of categories (also see the Food theme of the Sustainability & Climate Action Plan).
Triple Bottom Line Tool	Triple Bottom Line Cost-Benefit Analysis (TBL-CBA) working group, a group of students, faculty, and staff who meet weekly to create a cost-benefit analysis tool to evaluate projects in the SPL.
Sustainable Procurement Group	A group of stakeholders in procurement across multiple OHIO offices and departments that discuss progress, challenges, and solutions that promote the goals within the Sustainability & Climate Action Plan.
Green Purchasing Reports	Aggregation reports submitted to the university by potential vendors that detail total numbers of sustainable purchasing within their portfolio.

Hub-Related Initiatives 

• EPEAT Gold computer purchases
  • The University's Bobcat Depot purchases only EPEAT certified computers and laptops.
• RFP Sustainability language
  • The University's RFP template contains requirements to provide sustainability information in all bid proposals.
• Social Enterprise Ecosystem
  • The Social Enterprise Ecosystem (SEE Appalachia) is a project that seeks to make positive changes to health and wellness, education and the environment. SEE assists social enterprises, which combine the social mission of a nonprofit with the market-driven approach of a business, with financing and operational sustainability in every stage, from start-up to eventual growth and expansion. 

OHIO Experts