Public procurement teams play a powerful role in shaping environmentally responsible purchasing behaviors. By integrating sustainable procurement practices and prioritizing diverse vendor management strategies, agencies can significantly reduce their environmental footprint, while also driving cost savings and operational efficiency.
If you’re just beginning your sustainability journey, this guide offers five actionable tips for achieving green procurement you can start using right away. These simple steps are designed to help you meet your environmental goals, improve supplier diversity, and modernize your procurement process with minimal disruption.
Before anything else, you need a clear, written policy that outlines your agency’s sustainability goals and purchasing standards. This document should specify how sustainability will be factored into procurement decisions, from material sourcing to vendor selection.
Tip: Keep the policy clear, simple, and practical so your team and vendors can follow it with ease.
Vendor selection is one of the biggest levers for driving sustainable outcomes. When you partner with vendors who prioritize environmental and social responsibility, your agency benefits from their responsible practices.
This is where sustainable vendor management really comes into play. A well-managed vendor network allows you to track certifications, monitor environmental impact, and hold suppliers accountable.
Going paperless is an immediate win for green procurement, and it’s not as hard as it sounds. In fact, modern digital procurement software makes it easy to automate tedious manual tasks and eliminate unnecessary paperwork. Moving your bid creation, solicitation, and management processes online reduces waste, saves time, and gives you better visibility into compliance and risk management.
Example: Agencies using PlanetBids’ digital procurement system save a combined 22 million sheets of paper and eliminated more than 61,000 commute hours annually by moving procurement processes online.
Sustainable products might come with higher price tags up front, but they almost always save agencies money in the long term. This is where Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) analysis can shift the conversation from initial price to overall value.
Tip: Many suppliers can provide lifecycle cost data. Ask for it in your procurement templates to compare options effectively.
True sustainability goes beyond the environment. A real sustainable procurement plan should include social and economic equity. Working with local, small, and disadvantaged businesses (including Disadvantaged, Minority, Women-Owned, and Veteran Business Enterprises) supports the community, reduces transportation emissions, and fosters innovation.
Example: San Diego County Regional Airport Authority increased vendor participation and met DEI goals through targeted outreach and streamlined vendor onboarding with their eProcurement system.
Implementing green procurement practices doesn’t require a total overhaul. By following these five strategies, from crafting a sustainability policy to leveraging eProcurement platforms and expanding your vendor base, your agency can take immediate and meaningful action toward environmental and social responsibility.
Embedding eco-friendly procurement and sustainable vendor management into your everyday processes will not only allow your agency to reduce its environmental impact but also to improve transparency, compliance, and long-term savings.
Want more direction on going green? Download the white paper, Sustainable Procurement in the Public Sector, here.
Ready to see how PlanetBids’ end-to-end procurement platform can help your public agency improve its sustainability strategies? Let’s talk.