Sustainable procurement

In some cases, we may ask tenderers to nominate specific commitments relevant to the key sustainability risks or opportunities associated with a procurement. For example, the percentage of recycled content in pavement material or the number of diesel-fuelled technologies that will be replaced with solar, hybrid or electric. These commitments are usually made via a returnable schedule and will be used to compare offers and may be used as the basis for contractual requirements or key performance indicators.

Sustainability returnable schedules will generally be used for construction procurements more than $5 million.

From July 2023, new and existing suppliers wishing to apply for prequalification for bituminous work will be requested to undertake an assessment of their plant using the Australian Flexible Pavements Association’s Sustainability Framework for Asphalt (SF4A). We will take SF4A scores into account in tender evaluations for bituminous work procured directly by our Department.

Where bituminous work is procured indirectly, such as through a head contractor, we encourage head contractors to request their suppliers’ asphalt plant sustainability score and take this into account in their supplier selection.

For contracts that involve significant passenger vehicle travel, we will request that the supplier signs up to the South Australian Government’s Fleet Pledge Program. For example, where the supplier is likely to require a fleet of more than five passenger vehicles to carry out the service.

Driving South Australia’s fleets to plug-in electric vehicles is a key action of South Australia’s Electric Vehicle Action Plan. By participating in the Fleet Pledge Program, suppliers will have access to tools and resources to help them transition to electric fleet vehicles.

The Government has a goal to achieve net-zero emissions in its government operations, including scope 1, 2 and some scope 3 emissions. To ensure we can measure and report progress against our emission reduction goals, we may request emissions data from suppliers, particularly for procurements more than $50 million. Requesting emissions data can also help procurers compare and select products with lower lifecycle impacts.

Quantifying carbon emissions can be straightforward or very complex, depending on the nature of the product or service. Many suppliers now provide Environment Product Declarations for their products. These provide an estimate of the carbon emissions generated per unit of that product, from raw material extraction through to sale of the product.

The carbon intensity of many types of services can also be quantified and compared. For example, cloud providers may be requested to provide their carbon emissions per CPU-hour (processor-hour), which reflects how energy efficient their data centres are and the proportion of renewables used.

We may request suppliers to provide emissions data:

• upfront during the tender stage to help us make comparisons
• during delivery to enable tracking and reporting of emissions.

For procurements which involve multiple activities over extended periods, such as facilities management, it is not practicable to provide an emissions estimate upfront. In such cases, we may request tenderers to provide information on their proposed approach to reduce emissions associated with the contract and/or examples of the steps they have taken to reduce emissions in their value chain.

The contract may also include requirements for the supplier to establish an emissions baseline for the goods or services being delivered and develop emission reduction plan, including key performance indicators and reporting. An example of a simple emission reduction plan for a mailroom services contract is shown in the example section.

From mid-2024, we will require all suppliers tendering for work valued at more than $50 million to provide evidence that they have an organisational emission reduction target(s) addressing:

• scope 1 and 2 emissions (from their own fuel and electricity use)
• at least one scope 3 embodied emission source in their supply chain.

The emission reduction targets must be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timebound) and must be publicly available on the supplier’s website.

To comply with this requirement, tenderers must provide a URL link to the publicly available emission reduction* target. The commitment or target can be any form of SMART target. Whilst the science-based target methodology is recognised as best practice, it is not mandated. Organisations can establish targets that work for their scale and level of experience.

The requirement to address at least one scope 3 embodied emission source is designed to ensure our delivery partners are taking steps to manage emissions in their supply chains.

Please note that the requirement is for an emission reduction commitment or target, not offsetting. Offsetting carbon is a strong interim step which we do not discourage, but suppliers must also have a commitment or target to reduce emissions.

Baseline (year 1) emissions

Note: Update actions at least annually as progress is made.