Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 65.90
Liaison Sarah Stoeckl
Submission Date March 6, 2020

STARS v2.2

University of Oregon
OP-11: Sustainable Procurement

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.25 / 3.00 Grant Baldwin
Senior Contract Officer
Purchasing & Contracting Services
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

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:
See University of Oregon Environment and Sustainability Policy:
https://policies.uoregon.edu/vol-4-finance-administration-infrastructure/ch-7-real-property-facilities-planning/environmental

The policy requires a plan to support each principle, including sustainable purchasing. Our Sustainable Purchasing Plan is summarized below.

2019 PCS Sustainable Purchasing Action Plan
Purchasing and Contracting Services (PCS) is pleased to announce a sustainable purchasing program, in cooperation with University of Oregon’s (UO) Office of Sustainability. This plan furthers the university’s commitment to sustainability and to our Climate Action Plan and Comprehensive Environmental Policy.

This plan serves as the required support plan addressing principle five of UO’s Comprehensive Environmental Policy: “Purchasing – The University will strive to obtain ‘best value’ by balancing, as both appropriate and permissible, life cycle costs and social and environmental impacts when purchasing goods and services. Where both appropriate and permissible, the University will write specific purchasing policies to guide decision-making on frequently purchased items.”

PCS is the conduit that connects the university to its supply chain, which is the goods and services the university purchases from its suppliers. Due to multiple levels of complexity, most universities and service organizations do not track or report the environmental footprint of their supply chains (Robinson, Tewkesbury, Kemp, & Williams, 2017). The university’s reportable carbon emissions in the 2017-2018 academic year were 55,991 Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Equivalent (MTCDe) (University of Oregon - Office of Sustainability, 2018). The portion of UO’s supply chain that is processed through PCS but not reported in the standard emissions inventory represents an estimated additional 18,664 MTCDe’s — 25% of the university’s total emissions. That amount is the equivalent of 247 tanker trucks filled with gasoline.

Our sustainable purchasing program will address the environmental, social, and economic impacts associated with the University of Oregon’s purchase of an estimated $100 million dollars in goods and services annually. Sustainable purchasing means making sure that our suppliers – and the products and services they supply – deliver value for money and generate benefits not only for University of Oregon, but also for the environment, society, and the economy.

We commit to the following actions:

Resources. Allocating sufficient staff and financial resources to the sustainable purchasing program to ensure we meet program goals, achieve outcomes, and consistently and accurately report results.

Leadership. Appoint Grant Baldwin, C.P.M., CPPO, within Purchasing and Contracting Services, to serve as the program leader, empowered to design and implement the sustainable purchasing program.

Engagement. The Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) will establish and lead an inter-departmental, cross-functional advisory committee to establish, support, promote, coordinate, integrate, and maintain the sustainable purchasing program. This advisory committee will meet at least once every six months.

Analysis. To inform program design and strategic planning, the program leader will create a shared understanding of current and future spending patterns and purchasing needs at University of Oregon and identify the largest and most material sustainability-related impacts and opportunities generated from our purchasing. This will be done by conducting a sustainability spend analysis or identifying existing comparable studies.

Plan. The program leader, in consultation with the CPO, Office of Sustainability staff, advisory committee, and other stakeholders such as key budget holders and suppliers will create a Sustainable Purchasing Action Plan (hereafter “Action Plan”). The Action Plan will:
• Prioritize categories of spending for sustainable purchasing based on the results of the sustainability spend analysis;
• Establish quantitative goals for each category;
• Identify the specific implementation strategies to achieve goals; and
• Describe coordination, communications, measurement, and reporting responsibilities.

Implementation. The program leader will engage appropriate internal and external stakeholders to implement the Action Plan. Implementation strategies may be taken at any step in the purchasing cycle, and may include:
• Undertaking a needs analysis to potentially reduce spending in a given category;
• Conducting market assessments and engaging suppliers to determine the availability of viable and innovative procurement options;
• Developing specifications and contract language that align with guidance set forth by the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC) including recommendations on existing standards, eco-labels, and certification requirements;
• Seeking disclosure of relevant sustainability information from suppliers, leveraging shared or existing data when available, and communicating preferences for innovative sustainability solutions;
• Engaging and rewarding suppliers for helping UO meet its sustainability goals;
• Engaging and rewarding key suppliers for establishing and meeting their own sustainability goals;
• Calculating the total cost of ownership to determine the economic value of procurement over the product and/or services’ lifecycle;
• Conducting training for purchasing staff, users of goods and services, and/or suppliers on sustainability considerations;
• Incorporating sustainable purchasing into performance metrics for colleges and departments, and for relevant staff members;
• Incorporating sustainable purchasing into performance metrics for suppliers (e.g., conducting quarterly business reviews).

Tracking. The program leader, in consultation with the advisory committee and key stakeholders, will design a monitoring and reporting system to track progress in implementing the Action Plan and to measure and report on performance outcomes.

Reporting. Each year, the program leader will report on progress to the CPO and Office of Sustainability, and each year will report to stakeholders about sustainable purchasing activities and outcomes. The report will include details on:
• Number and type of sustainable purchasing strategies undertaken, reported by category, commodity, supplier segment, agency, or division;
• Total contracting amount and percent spent implementing the sustainable purchasing strategies described in the Action Plan; and
• The key environmental, social, and or economic outcomes associated with sustainable purchasing strategies undertaken.

Continuous Improvement. The program leader, CPO, and Office of Sustainability staff will review progress every year to inform continuous improvement of the sustainable purchasing program. The program leader will also review and update the Action Plan every year and adjust if needed.

Share. University of Oregon will contribute lessons learned from its program to the broader community of professionals working to promote sustainable purchasing.
This plan will further actions that are already underway, including:
• increasing the amount and value of sustainable products available on our e-procurement site, Duck Depot;
• encouraging staff to make purchases through Duck Depot, where we can gather stronger data on UO’s purchasing footprint and better negotiate enterprise-wide supplier agreements that further sustainability and decrease prices;
• making recycled printer paper the most affordable option available to UO purchasers and instituting university-wide managed printers to strategically target paper use reductions;
• engaging stakeholders in facilities, janitorial, and sanitation to target an enterprise-wide solution that includes sustainability as a foundational component;
• engaging stakeholders in Information Services around their needs and ways to increase sustainability in purchasing, management, and disposal of computing software, hardware, and energy.

As UO President Michael Schill stated in his letter announcing UO’s recently updated Climate Action Plan*, “The UO is proud of our achievements in environmental sustainability, but we know there is more to do.” 2

PCS is excited to bring a new challenge and opportunity to the UO community that will draw upon the ideas, expertise, and passion of internal and external stakeholders and join forces to solve a common problem.


*https://president.uoregon.edu/university-oregons-updated-climate-action-plan

**The Sustainable Purchasing Action Plan is based on best practices and guidance developed by the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC), a not-for-profit, 180 member organization comprised of purchasers, suppliers, and public interest advocates. The purchasing membership represents over $300 billion in collective purchasing power—one third of purchasing members are equally split between higher education institutions and government entities that are engaged in public purchasing.

Does the institution employ Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) when evaluating energy- and water-using products and systems?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the institution’s use of LCCA?:
Institution employs LCCA less comprehensively, e.g. for certain types of systems or projects and not others

A brief description of the LCCA policy and/or practices:
The University's Comprehensive Environmental Policy states:
"The University will strive to obtain “best value” by balancing, as both appropriate and permissible, life cycle costs and social and environmental impacts when purchasing goods and services. Where both appropriate and permissible, the University will write specific purchasing policies to guide decision-making on frequently purchased items."

This is also emphasized in the University Purchasing and Contracting Procedures, Section, 5.1.3:
"Best Value. This basic concept in UO purchasing and contracting means that UO can consider factors other than Contract Price in making its purchasing decision. Although departments are very sensitive to obtaining the best price, departments are allowed to consider other costs or values, such as warranties, performance, quality, life cycle costs, cost of ownership, cost of acquisition, cost of termination or disposal, sustainability attributes, training, shipping, etc."

The 2019 Sustainable Purchasing Plan establishes among its implementation strategies:
"Calculating the total cost of ownership to determine the economic value of procurement over the product and/or services' life-cycle."

Purchasing and Contracting Services is currently in the process of incorporating LCCA analysis into its procurement decision through focusing on two areas:

1. Incorporating language requesting life cycle information into its competitive documents ( RFQ, RFP, etc).

2. Developing online tools, and/or instructional material that will assist department buyers to make purchasing decisions that consider the entire life cycle.

Some units and department already employ LCCA on their own, especially for potentially high-impact purchases like vehicles.

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:
A Sustainable Action Plan for Hazardous Materials Management is available at:
https://cpfm.uoregon.edu/sites/cpfm2.uoregon.edu/files/sap2019_hazardousmm.pdf.


As part of Safety and Risk Services, the university's Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) maintains several training and compliance programs, which can be viewed at: https://safety.uoregon.edu/environmental-health-and-safety. Programs include: Bio-safety Program, Chemical Safety Assistant Program (EHSA), Chemical Hygiene Plan, Chemical Hygiene Appendices,and Laboratory Safety.

Purchasing and Contracting Services is in the process of reviewing and increasing the visibility of safer and environmentally responsible choices of cleaning solutions and laboratory supplies.

The current Green Office policy is "If office purchases cleaning products, office only purchases Green Seal certified cleaning 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:
The University of Oregon requires all office copy paper purchased to contain at a minimum 30% post-consumer recycled content and be certified ECF.

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:
See link to Design Standards which include durability criteria for furniture and furnishings.

https://cpfm.uoregon.edu/campus-design-standards-0

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating Information technology (IT) and equipment?:
No

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for Information Technology (IT) and equipment:
The recent assessment of our electronics purchasing as reported in OP 12, revealed that 79% of our electronics purchasing is EPEAT certified.

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:
This description is regarding the university's food service was taken from https://housing.uoregon.edu/dining:

"In addition to sourcing food from local farms, we do our best to make sure our entire dining operation is sustainable.

We encourage the use of reusable plates, baskets, and flatware over single-use disposable items. We compost more than 170 tons of food scraps each year. This waste that would otherwise be sent to a landfill is used in gardens throughout our local area. In addition, all of our spent fryer oil is converted into biodiesel fuels through a local partnership.

All of our dining locations have water refill stations or water spouts on soda dispensers. We encourage students to use refillable coffee mugs—we even reward you with our Choose to Reuse program. Bring your refillable mug in nine times and the tenth drink is on us."

The Green Office Program has the following guidelines for sustainable catering:
1. Office always orders water in reusable pitchers instead of individual bottles.
2. Office offers vegetarian options for all catered meals.
3. Office prefers plattered meals with reusable serviceware. Office avoids individually boxed meals to reduce packaging and waste. When disposables are used, office orders composting services from Campus Zero Waste. Catering has generously agreed to provide china service free of charge for one event to offices participating in the Green Office Certification Program.
4. Office works with Catering to select available certified organic and other sustainable product options for each catering order.
5. Office signs up for Food Cache pilot program, a new initiative to reduce food waste and address food insecurity by offering surplus food from catering to students.

For independent food service providers, the following sample clauses are added to the contract:
1. Compliance with Environmental Laws. For the purposes of this Lease, the term "Hazardous Substances" means and includes all hazardous and toxic substances, waste, or materials, any pollutant or contaminant, including, without limitation, PCBs, asbestos, asbestos containing materials, and raw materials that are included under or regulated by any Environmental Laws. For the purposes of this Lease, the term "Environmental Laws" means and includes all federal, state and local statutes, ordinances, regulations and rules presently in force or hereafter enacted relating to environmental quality, contamination and clean-up of Hazardous Substances. References in this Lease to "laws" are deemed to include Environmental Laws. Landlord represents that to the best of its current actual knowledge, the Building is in compliance with all Environmental Laws respecting Hazardous Substances, and that Landlord has received no notice of any pending or threatening lien, action or proceeding respecting any alleged violation of Environmental Laws affecting the Building. Tenant will not cause or permit any Hazardous Substances to be brought upon, kept, used, disposed or discharged, in, on, from or about the Premises by its agents, employees, contractors, customers, clients, guests or invitees except as incidental to Tenant's permitted use of the Premises, and only in quantities that are less than the quantities that are required to be reported to governmental or other authorities under applicable law or regulations.
2. Recycling. Tenant shall actively participate in Landlords efforts to recycle and/or compost cardboard, paper, and plastic goods. Landlord shall provide containers for such in or adjacent to the Building. Tenant shall not use any foam products.
3. Tenant shall not store or use any pesticides without the express written consent of the Director. Landlord acknowledges that extermination services may be vital to the successful operation of Tenant's business and that the damage caused to Tenant's business by infestation of pests or rodents is difficult, if not impossible, to calculate. If it is determined that the existence of any pests or rodents has been caused by Tenant's acts or omissions,Tenant shall be responsible for eradication costs. However, if a licensed exterminator shall determine that any infestation problem in the Premises is caused by other tenants or from parts of the Building that Landlord is required to maintain, then Landlord shall promptly take whatever action is required, including but not limited to, extermination services, to prevent infestation of the Premises. Landlord's failure to perform the necessary extermination actions shall be a material breach of this Lease.

4. In accordance with ORS 279C.845, the Contractor and every subcontractor shall submit written certified statements to the Owner and Tenant,on the form prescribed by the Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor and Industries, certifying the hourly rate of wage paid each worker which the Contractor or the subcontractor has employed on the Work and further certifying that no worker employed on the Work has been paid less than the prevailing rate of wage, which certificate and statement shall be verified by the oath of the Contractor or the subcontractor that the Contractor or subcontractor has read the certified statement, that the Contractor or subcontractor knows the contents of the certified statement, and, that to the Contractor's or subcontractor's best knowledge and belief, the certified statement is true. The certified statements shall set out accurately and completely the payroll records for the prior week,including the name and address of each worker, the worker's correct classification, rate of pay, daily and weekly number of hours worked, deductions made, and actual wages paid. Certified statements for each week during which the Contractor or subcontractor has employed a worker on the Work shall resubmitted once a month, by the fifth business day of the following month.

5. (Not included) Extensive Section on environmental contamination and handling of spills, releases, and leaks.

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

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for garments and linens:
Clauses added to our laundry services contract include the following:

RECYCLED PRODUCTS. Unless expressly otherwise provided for in contract, all paper products will be sourced from mills using elemental chlorine-free processes and contain a minimum of 30% post-consumer waste.

MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET. In accordance with the OR-OSHA Hazard Communication Rules in OAR chapter 437, Contractor will provide University with a Material Safety Data Sheet for any Deliverables provided under this Contract which may release, or otherwise result in exposure to a hazardous chemical under normal conditions of use. In addition, Contractor must label, tag, or mark such Deliverables.

ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES. Contractor will, when applicable, have made good faith efforts to work with or obtain materials to be used in performing the Contract from minority-owned, women-owned, and emerging small business enterprises.

Does the institution have published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating professional service providers?:
No

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for professional service providers:
---

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

A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for transportation and fuels:
---

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:
The answers provided in this section are based on the following sources:
Part 1. Institution-wide sustainable procurement policies:
-Sustainable Purchasing Action Plan (attached to part one)
Part 2. Life Cycle Cost Analysis
-Comprehensive Environmental Policy: https://cpfm.uoregon.edu/Policy-Sustainability
-University Purchasing and Contracting Procedures: https://pcs.uoregon.edu/content/policy procedure
-Sustainable Purchasing Action Plan (referenced above)
Part 3. Product-specific sustainability criteria
--Chemically intensive products and services
---Sustainable Action Plan for Hazardous Materials Management (referenced in section)
---Environmental Health & Safety (EHS)(referenced in section)
---Certified Green Office Program (internal documents provided to participants)
--Consumable office products
---Green Office Program (referenced in section)
--Furniture and furnishings
---Green Office Program
--Information Technology (IT) and equipment
---Green Office Program
--Food service providers
---Housing Web Site (referenced in section)
---Green Office Program -Catering Guidelines
---Confidential Leasing Contracts
--Garments and linens
---Confidential Vendor Contracts
--Transportation and fuels
---Sustainable action plan referenced in section

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.