Government fails its own sustainable procurement goals

The government has been accused of failing to meet its own sustainable procurement goals by putting cost before environmental concerns.

A report released today by the Westminster Sustainable Business Forum (WSBF) claims “significant” opportunities have been missed in the pursuit of low-cost contracts.

It said the government’s progress to establish the UK as a leader in sustainable procurement within the EU was “patchy at best”.

Barbara Morton, director of Action Sustainability and inquiry co-chair, said while most sustainable procurement policies had been implemented, they had not translated into practice.

The report pointed to a 100% variance in gas and electricity efficiency, in 10 schools built by the same construction company, as evidence.

She said: “Good designs, which would have delivered buildings with low energy use, low running costs and low environmental impacts, are either rejected at the planning stage or stripped of their sustainability elements due to short-term affordability concerns.”

The inquiry called for the implementation of ‘whole life costing’ across public sector procurement contracts to emphasise the need for better designed projects.

But it warned whole life costing was “poorly understood and rarely applied” by the government at present.

WSBF manager Vilhelm Oberg urged the government to provide better leadership and guidance to procurement decision-makers.

He said: “Too often hard-pressed civil servants and procurers feel obliged to award the contracts for schools or hospitals to the cheapest bidder, when they could be taking into account the long-term environmental, social and financial benefits of well designed, energy efficient designs.”