Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 74.30
Liaison Joséanne Bélanger-Gravel
Submission Date Sept. 2, 2022

STARS v2.2

Polytechnique Montréal
OP-11: Sustainable Procurement

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 3.00 Joséanne Bélanger-Gravel
Sustainability Advisor
Sustainable Development Office
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Part 1. Institution-wide sustainable procurement policies

Does the institution have written policies, guidelines, or directives that seek to support sustainable purchasing across multiple commodity categories institution-wide?:
Yes

A copy of the policies, guidelines or directives:
The policies, guidelines or directives:
In Polytechnique's Goods and services procurement policy (Politique d’acquisition de biens et services), there is a paragraph about Polytechnique's desire to support sustainable procurement: "Polytechnique is committed to meeting the highest environmental standards of excellence. The evaluation of potential suppliers' efforts in sustainable development is a criterion that Polytechnique can use in the analysis of bids. Polytechnique seeks to select products and services that minimize their negative environmental and social impacts throughout their lifecycle. Appendix D outlines the type of environmental and social criteria that Polytechnique aims to take into account in the acquisition of certain categories of products."

Part 2. Life Cycle Cost Analysis 

Does the institution employ Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) when evaluating energy- and water-using products and systems?:
No

Which of the following best describes the institution’s use of LCCA?:
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A brief description of the LCCA policy and/or practices:
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Part 3. Product-specific sustainability criteria

To count, the criteria must address the specific sustainability challenges and impacts associated with products and/or services in each category, e.g. by requiring or giving preference to multi-criteria sustainability standards, certifications and labels appropriate to the category. Broader, institution-wide policies should be reported in Part 1, above. 

Chemically intensive products and services

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating chemically intensive products and services?:
Yes

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for chemically intensive products and services:
Appendix D of Polytechnique's Goods and services procurement policy lists types of ecologos which can be used in selecting cleaning and maintenance products.

Consumable office products

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating consumable office products?:
Yes

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for consumable office products:
Appendix D of Polytechnique's Goods and services procurement policy states that preference should be given to paper containing at least 70% recycled content or to paper FSC certified.

Furniture and furnishings

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating furniture and furnishings?:
Yes

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for furniture and furnishings:
Appendix D of Polytechnique's Goods and services procurement policy lists types of ecologos which can be used to select paint. Polytechnique Montreal does a part of its jobs internally through its several workshops; among them there are a carpentry workshop and a painting workshop that are related to this section using paint or similar products. Furthermore, Appendix C of Polytechnique's Goods and services procurement policy provides a checklist of potential risks and related questions to be answered before buying a product, an equipment or a machine. In the section "Chemical and Biological Risks"; one specific question is in regard to chemical products : "Does the product respect the restrictions listed in Appendix I of the Health and Safety regulation of Quebec ?" Among the restrictions, there is a list of contaminants with specific air exposure limits. For example, contaminants that can be related to furniture and furnishings are VOCs (volatile organic compounds). Several VOCs are among that list. Here is the link for Health and Safety regulation of Quebec : https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/fr/document/rc/S-2.1,%20r.%2013?langCont=fr#ga:l_v-h1

Information Technology (IT) and equipment

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating Information technology (IT) and equipment?:
Yes

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for Information Technology (IT) and equipment:
Appendix D of Polytechnique's Goods and services procurement policy lists types of ecologos which can be used to help in selecting IT products.

Food service providers

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating food service providers?:
Yes

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for food service providers:
The food services Strategic Plan 20-23 based on sustainable development clearly states four priorities : 1- To increase the proportion of organic and fairtrade food, 2- To increase the proportion of locally produced food, 3- To lower the environmental footprint of the food offer, 4- To increase the proportion of good healthy food. No formal action plan has been developed because the new entity for dining services, named ASaP, just started up the before the pandemic and has also suffered from labour shortage, therefore actions have been implemented even though the action plan was not properly layed out.

Furthermore, Polytechnique Montréal has several requirements towards more sustainable, good and healthy dining services translated into several measures to lower the ecological impact of different products and to continuously improve the sustainability performance of dining services.

Moreover, the dining services entity carries on the same standard as the previous entity regarding Fairtrade products : all coffee and tea sold in the different selling points shall be fair trade certified and fairtrade chocolate should also be available.

Garments and linens 

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating garments and linens?:
No

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for garments and linens:
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Professional service providers

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating professional service providers?:
Yes

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for professional service providers:
In its Goods and Services Procurement Policy, Polytechnique states that "Polytechnique is committed to aiming for the highest standards of excellence in environment. The evaluation of potential suppliers, with regard to their effort in sustainable development, is a criterion that Polytechnique will use when necessary in the analysis of submissions. Polytechnique seeks to make product and service choices that minimize life cycle negative environmental and social impacts."

Transportation and fuels

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating transportation and fuels?:
Yes

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for transportation and fuels:
Appendix D of Polytechnique's Goods and services procurement states that, when replacing vehicules from the fleet, electrical or hybrid vehicles should be given priority when such models exist.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the institution’s sustainable procurement program or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.