What is Sustainable Procurement?
Sustainable Procurement evaluates social, environmental and Indigenous impacts, in addition to cost, quality and service, when purchasing goods and services to achieve best value. By considering social, environmental and Indigenous impacts the City enhances its procurements by minimizing environmental impacts and maximizing social and Indigenous benefits.
How is sustainability integrated into procurements?
Sustainability is integrated in procurements through the City of Mississauga’s Sustainable Procurement policy which is supported by the City’s Procurement By-law. The policy has been in effect since 2018 and underwent a significant update in November 2024. The policy update now aligns better with the City’s environmental, social and Indigenous priorities and is supported by a sustainable procurement menu.
The menu was developed in-house by a team of sustainability experts from across the organization. The menu provides detailed direction to Contract Managers on operationalizing the City’s Sustainable Procurement Principles, which are to promote environmental stewardship, integrate social value and advance Indigenous Reconciliation.
The menu is based around the commodities purchased the most: construction, consulting, goods, information technology (IT) and services. The menu provides sustainability criteria for procurements that are being evaluated and for procurements where there are defined requirements. The menu also provides guidance on the review and evaluation of bid submissions and language for use in contracts. By incorporating sustainability into contract requirements, the City is able to measure the impacts and ensure suppliers are delivering on their commitments.
How does Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) factor in?
EDI plays a role in several aspects of the City’s procurements, and we are continually exploring new opportunities within our procurement processes to further advance our EDI efforts.
EDI outcomes are largely captured in the social and Indigenous impacts of a procurement. These outcomes are included in procurements for construction, along with certain IT, services and consulting projects. The social impacts are focussed on 2 main outcome areas: the 1st outcome is employment, which looks for hiring of suppliers or subcontractors from members of equity-deserving communities or the use of small businesses, social enterprise or diverse-owned businesses as suppliers and subcontractors, and the 2nd outcome is focused on skills and training/workforce development, which is to provide apprenticeship and paid-work opportunities as part of the procurement.
The Indigenous outcomes also emphasize creating employment opportunities through procurement. However, to meaningfully advance reconciliation, the City also encourage bidders to support the economic and cultural development of the City’s Indigenous partners. This includes aligning with community initiatives and priorities, engaging with local Indigenous communities, and integrating cultural contributions into the project or broader community. Additionally, some environmental outcomes have EDI impacts. Procurements that include criteria around greenhouse gas emission reductions, energy and waste reduction, and the use of sustainably certified products all have positive social impacts on our organization and community by helping to improve quality of life and reduce environmental impacts of our purchasing.
Sustainability Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ)
Some of the City’s best value procurements include a sustainability leadership questionnaire. This SLQ requires bidders to answer questions related to their overall sustainability policies and practices, environmental stewardship, social responsibility and Indigenous Reconciliation. The SLQ is weighted and part of the evaluated criteria of certain procurements.
Depending on the nature of the purchase, some procurements will continue to evaluate the SLQ alone, others will combine the SLQ with the new sustainability criteria, and some will evaluate solely on the new sustainability criteria.
Supplier Diversity
The other way the City factors in EDI is by diversifying our supply chain. The City is a member of the Canadian Council of Indigenous Businesses (CCIB) and Buy Social Canada, which provides us access to their respective directories of Indigenous businesses and Social Enterprises. For certain competitive medium value procurements, the directories are used to determine if there are any Indigenous owned suppliers or social enterprises that could be issued an invitation to bid.
What’s next for sustainable procurement?
The updated policy and new supporting menu help to enhance procurement and provides the City with more direct ways to integrate sustainability. With the new sustainability criteria, we will be better positioned to measure the impacts from a procurement perspective, look for ways to improve, and work with our suppliers to innovate on our procurements.
Every procurement brings a unique opportunity, and I am excited to see where we go in 2025!