Stanford University
OP-11: Sustainable Procurement

Consistent with Stanford's sustainability goals, the purpose of its sustainable purchasing policy is to support and facilitate the purchase of products and materials that minimize the harmful effects to the environment from their production, transportation, use and disposition. It is Stanford's preference to purchase and use environmentally preferable products whenever they perform satisfactorily and can be acquired at similar total value (cost/quality). A related purpose is to develop and implement common purchasing programs to be used by all Stanford personnel that support suppliers of environmentally preferable products, services and practices. For the complete policy language, please visit the following: http://www.stanford.edu/group/fms/fingate/staff/buypaying/policy_notes/sustainable_purchase.html http://sustainable.stanford.edu/sites/sem.stanford.edu/files/documents/Stanford_sustainable_procurement_guidelines.pdf Additionally, Stanford has a stated preference for contracting with minority and women-owned businesses. See https://adminguide.stanford.edu/chapter-5/subchapter-5/policy-5-5-1

To improve the cost-effectiveness of its building and renovation programs, Stanford recognizes that it must invest in designs and systems with improved long-term performance. The Guidelines for Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) instruct Project Teams to consider not only the "first costs" of a building but also long-term costs, including utilities, operations, and maintenance. The full text of the guidelines can be found online here: http://lbre.stanford.edu/sites/all/lbre-shared/files/docs_public/LCCA121405.pdf

Green cleaning products are specifically included in both Stanford's sustainable purchasing policy and sustainable purchasing guidelines. Specifically, Stanford recommends Green Seal products as Environmentally Preferable Products, and the guidelines provide guidance on finding Green Seal products online. The vast majority of Stanford’s building space does in fact utilize Green Seal or other green cleaning products.

Stanford University has a long history of designing and constructing quality building projects. In continuing this tradition, Stanford seeks to ensure that new and renovated buildings meet student, staff, and faculty needs as effectively and efficiently as possible. To this end, Stanford's Department of Land, Buildings and Real Estate has developed a thorough Project Delivery Process (PDP) that addresses all aspects of planning, budgeting, design and construction. The full text of the guidelines can be found online here: http://lbre.stanford.edu/sites/all/lbre-shared/files/docs_public/LCCA121405.pdf Additionally, Stanford’s sustainable procurement guidelines specifically call for the use of asphalt and concrete containing re-crushed cement concrete aggregate, glass cullet or recycled fiber, plastic or tire rubber.

For computer purchases, 100% of recommended computers are rated EPEAT Gold or EPEAT Silver. Procurement includes Energy Star requirements in all RFPs for electronic products. Stanford has worked with IT vendors to get these at an excellent price, which motivates students, faculty and staff to make the environmentally sound choice. For more details, please visit: https://itservices.stanford.edu/service/help/hardwarerec/computers

All of Stanford’s recent café contracts require that the vendor maintain landfill, recycling, and compost collection infrastructure consistent with the campus Zero Waste program. For any cafes where this language is not included, Stanford plans to add the language in upon renewal of the contract.

Stanford’s Procurement and EH&S departments worked together to compile requirements for lab coat cleaning, including sustainability concepts. The vendor selected was Cintas, which operates a vast sustainability program. More information on the Cintas lab coat cleaning program is available here: http://www.cintas.com/customer_applications/green/.

Stanford’s sustainable procurement guidelines state that departments must evaluate the environmental performance of vendors contracted for the provision of products and services.

Stanford’s Sustainable Purchasing Policy calls for minimization of deliveries to campus and distance a product has to travel to get to campus. It proposes strategies such as purchasing locally or from suppliers that the department already uses to avoid the addition of new delivery routes by new suppliers. This policy is supported by a campaign run by the Procurement department called “Green Tuesdays,” where purchasers are encouraged to only schedule deliveries on Tuesdays of each week, minimizing the need for delivery routes to occur every day. In 2015, as a result of the Green Tuesdays campaign, there was a slight increase in the number of trips to campus on Tuesdays, but the number of trips to campus every other weekday was reduced by approximately 10%. Stanford has also contracted with an electric bus vendor to electrify the Marguerite bus fleet. By the end of 2016, a total of 23 buses will be active in the fleet, accounting for more than half of the total mileage traveled by the buses in the free shuttle service. The university fleet is also on the path towards electrification. The campus Fleet Manager is in the midst of compiling a strategic plan to move the campus fleet towards fully electric or non-motorized modes of transportation on all possible vehicles over the next several years. Stanford’s Procurement department has also begun a systematic process of evaluating sustainability in each vendor category, and one of the first four categories addressed was travel. By evaluating travel vendors and employee travel purchase patterns, Procurement hopes to develop policies and best practices for sustainable travel for Stanford employees. Finally, Stanford’s sustainable procurement guidelines specifically call for the use of remanufactured tires and products made from recycled tire rubber, as well as re-refined lubrication and hydraulic oils.

Recycled content office paper and paper products are specifically included in both Stanford's sustainable purchasing policy and sustainable purchasing guidelines.

As mentioned above, Procurement has begun to evaluate sustainability within each of its spend categories. Through 2016, the categories evaluated have been Office Supplies, Med/Lab equipment, Hardware, and Travel. Opportunities have been uncovered in the Office Supplies category, in particular, since Stanford’s primary office supply vendor is Office Depot, who developed a proprietary Shades of Green rating system for its products. The Office of Sustainability has partnered with Procurement and Office Depot to determine how to best implement the Shades of Green methodology at Stanford and use the information to encourage the purchase of the most sustainable office supplies across campus. Paper and ink toner purchases have been identified as key opportunities through this collaboration. For ink toner specifically, Procurement has worked with Office Depot to implement a toner recycling program, where Office Depot will pick up used toner cartridges for recycling at the same time that they make deliveries throughout campus buildings. This eliminates the need for an additional trip while also facilitating toner cartridge recycling across campus. Finally, purchasing energy efficient products is also a major focus of Stanford’s sustainable purchasing program. For instance, Stanford’s sustainable purchasing policy and guidelines both specifically recommend compact fluorescent light bulbs (the guidelines pre-date cost-effective LEDs). Moreover, the equipment inventory conducted in 2014 revealed many other inefficient types of electronic appliances that could gradually be phased out through procurement policies, including personal printers, personal refrigerators (mini fridges), and fax machines. Through Stanford’s Green Labs program, the Office of Sustainability also works with Procurement to encourage the purchase of energy efficient ultra-low temperature freezers, which was one of the opportunities that emerged from the Med/Lab spend analysis referenced above. Information on the plug load equipment inventory and opportunities identified in the area of Procurement can be found here: https://sustainable.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/resource-attachments/plug_load_fact_sheet.pdf.