| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 68.42 |
| Liaison | Austin Sutherland |
| Submission Date | Feb. 18, 2025 |
University of Pennsylvania
OP-11: Sustainable Procurement
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.50 / 3.00 |
"---"
indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Part 1. Institution-wide sustainable procurement policies
Yes
A copy of the policies, guidelines or directives:
---
The policies, guidelines or directives:
Contract Language:
Commitment to Diversity and the Local Economy: The University encourages and expects utilization of local businesses, the local workforce, and diversity suppliers which include minority-owned, woman-owned, Protected Veteran-owned, and other diversity businesses. Suppliers will use best efforts to support both diversity and the local economy.
a) Local and Diversity Hiring: In addition to the non-discrimination provisions included [in Section X], Supplier agrees to make best effort to hire locally with particular focus on West Philadelphia residents and residents of the City of Philadelphia. Supplier also agrees to consider the diversity of West Philadelphia in its hiring process to ensure that its workforce best represents the neighborhood it serves. If requested by the University, Supplier will provide reporting that describes hiring statistics for local and diversity hiring. Any reports will be in a format mutually acceptable to Supplier and the University.
b) Local and Diversity Suppliers: Supplier agrees to use commercially reasonable efforts to utilize local and diversity suppliers wherever possible and in line with its own fiduciary responsibilities. If requested by the University, Supplier will provide reporting that describes the level of Supplier’s supplier spend with local and diversity suppliers. Any reports will be in a format mutually acceptable to Supplier and the University.
Commitment to Environmental Sustainability: As a signatory of the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, the University is committed to environmental stewardship. The Supplier agrees to use its best efforts to support the University's environmental sustainability efforts and promote sustainable business practices within its own organization. The University may from time-to-time request information from the Supplier to ensure that it is demonstrating commitment to environmental sustainability. Supplier agrees to provide information as requested, In addition, Supplier will consider any commercially reasonable requests that the University puts forth to promote environmentally sustainable business practices. The Supplier’s response to these requests may inform the University’s decision when purchasing those goods or services in the future
Part 2. Life Cycle Cost Analysis
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:
A LCCA is incorporated into the design guidelines for Penn's capital projects. The guidelines address the LCCA for electric and mechanical systems and are organized as follows:
- Code impact,
- operating costs, including: housekeeping, landscaping, and utility costs. The operating cost analysis must be comprehensive as it will be used to predict utility and maintenance budgets
- Maintenance costs
- Construction costs
- System life expectancy
- Rationale for zoning
- Life Cycle Costs – to include all owning and operating center over a 25 year period. Use standard spreadsheet (available electronically) attached to summarize life cycle costs for each option.
- Impact upon existing utility infrastructures
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
No
A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for chemically intensive products and services:
---
Consumable office products
Yes
A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for consumable office products:
Penn encourages members of the Penn community to utilize the advanced search tool in Penn Marketplace to identify and prefer more sustainable products such as recycled content, biobased, and eco-friendly products. More sustainable products are labeled in Penn Marketplace with a green leaf feature for ease of recognition. Information about this program can be found on the Penn Procurement website here at https://procurement.upenn.edu/sustainable-purchasing/how-to-buy-green.
Members of the Penn Community seeking to significantly reduce their office printing costs and environmental impact can take advantage of Penn’s Managed Print Services (MPS). The MPS Program is a service that analyzes and manages document input/output devices to: improve efficiency and productivity; reduce electronic, paper, and plastic (ink/toner) waste; lower the total cost of office printing; reduce support burden to IT staff; and manage the printer fleet with greater visibility.
Furniture and furnishings
Yes
A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for furniture and furnishings:
Penn has published Sustainable Furniture Purchasing Guidance. Additionally, Penn's Green Guidelines for Renovations features a section on Furnishings, requiring BIFMA level(R) Certification, PVC Free, and indoor air quality requirements for applicable products. These standards apply to renovations across campus that are not required to achieve LEED certification. Any new construction and major renovation projects must, at a minimum, meet LEED Silver certification.
Information Technology (IT) and equipment
Yes
A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for Information Technology (IT) and equipment:
The University is committed to purchasing Energy Star qualified products such as printers, computers, and appliances. Penn Computing Green Information Technology (IT) program has established recommended guidelines for IT purchases that include Energy Star 5.0 compliant desktops, replacing CRT monitors with LCD monitors, and encouraging the purchase of small form factor or all-in-one desktops instead of mini-towers or towers.
Beyond its purchasing guidelines, Green IT provides resources to help users throughout the University improve the sustainable aspects of their computing operations by reducing energy consumption and producing less e-waste.
Other examples of Green IT Hardware and Peripherals on campus is the Managed Print Services (MPS). MPS is a service provided by an external provider to analyze and manage document output devices with the goal of reducing the total cost of ownership and improving internal efficiency and productivity. Ricoh, ADS-S and Parmetech are Penn’s preferred MPS providers under multi‐year, campus‐wide contracts.
The Penn MPS program includes printer/copier equipment, service, and supplies, with some or all of the following provisions:
- Equipment including multi functional devices (MFD), copiers, printers, scanners and fax machines
- Preventive maintenance, parts, and ink/toner supplies (excluding paper)
- Guaranteed service level response times with near or on‐campus support, break/fix, and supplies replenishment
- Detailed account usage and simplified billing utilizing a cost per impression model
- Flexibility for equipment changes; up‐scaling and down‐scaling as your business needs dictate
- Single contract for increased efficiency in managing contract terms and conditions
Through MPS, an office establishes a common network with print devices optimized to accommodate printing needs while reducing the number of individual printers. This allows for a reduction in the energy used for printing across the office while maintaining a high level of service. It also allows user to deleted unwanted jobs from the printing queue, eliminating unnecessary printing.
In addition to these services, Penn has a published statement on conflict minerals related to IT. Major contracted suppliers of electronics to the University belong to the Electronic Industry Citizen Coalition (EICC) an organization devoted to improving social and environmental conditions in electronics supply chains. The EICC requires its members to follow a Code of Conduct which provides guidance in five critical areas of Corporate Social Responsibility performance – labor, health and safety, environment, management system and ethics.
As the EICC Code of Conduct does not yet specifically address the issue of conflict minerals, Penn has reached out to its major electronics suppliers to express concern about this issue and to request information about their efforts to ensure that the components they purchase throughout their supply chain are conflict free.
Penn is aware that there have been recent legislative and industry wide efforts to address the issue of conflict minerals. This includes the launch by the EICC in partnership with Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) of their Conflict-Free Smelter (CFS) program and the completion of the first tantalum smelter assessment.
Penn’s major contract suppliers, through their participation with the EICC have indicated their interest in addressing the issue of conflict minerals and as these initiatives move forward, Penn is committed to supporting and encouraging efforts by the EICC and others to deal with this complex issue. Links to the statement, EICC, and major contractor supplier links can be found here: https://procurement.upenn.edu/sustainable-purchasing/minimizing-supply-shain-conflict
More information can be found on the purchasing webpage: https://cms.business-services.upenn.edu/purchasing/sustainable-purchasing/green-products-and-services/green-info-by-category.html
Additional information can be found here: https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/campus-initiatives/procurement and https://www2.isc.upenn.edu/how-to/desktop-computing-recommendations-penn-2024-2025#Additional-information under "Improving Sustainability"
Food service providers
Yes
A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for food service providers:
Penn Purchasing has developed catering guidelines and contracts, as well as a portal - Catering @ Penn - which liss and explains the level of sustainbility offered by all contracted caterers on campus: https://procurement.upenn.edu/making-purchases/find-a-supplier/caterers. Cafes on campus are governed by contracts which include sustainability. As part of sustainability criteria, compost, recycling, food purchases, signage for cafe users, training and education for staff, educational events, and many more were included. As part of the consideration criteria for the campus dining vendor, Penn evaluated the sustainability of the vendors. Bon Appetit Management Company's wide range of sustainable practices was part of the decision making process in the Penn's selection.
Garments and linens
Yes
A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for garments and linens:
As part of Penn's requirements for apparel licensees, the University has adopted this Code of Workplace Conduct (the Code) to promote full, productive and freely-chosen employment. https://almanac.upenn.edu/volume-67-number-8/#code-of-workplace-conduct-for-penn-licensed-product-manufacturers-v67-n8
The University of Pennsylvania expects its licensees to conduct their business in a manner consistent with this Code, and to follow workplace standards that adhere to this Code.. Penn administration relies on its Committee for Manufacturer Responsibility, which is comprised of representatives from Penn’s faculty, students, staff and administrative leadership, to actively evaluate and monitor the labor activities and socially responsible practices of University licensees. The Committee, under the auspices of its faculty chair, makes recommendations to the University administration regarding its findings. The Committee unanimously voted to approve a resolution that encouraged the University to make this decision. For more information, see: https://cms.business-services.upenn.edu/purchasing/sustainable-purchasing/minimizing-supply-shain-conflict/apparel-licensee-requirements.html
Professional service providers
Yes
A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for professional service providers:
Sustainability is incorporated into "Instructions to Design Professionals" and the "Design Guidelines". These documents are incorporated by reference in all RFPs and contracts with design professionals. Within the "Instructions to Design Professionals" the University states it's sustainability policy. The documents can be found here: https://www.facilities.upenn.edu/standards-policies/standards/design-guidelines In addition to the "Instructions to Design Professionals", Penn Purchasing Services has worked to bring inclusiveness to Penn's supply chain. Purchasing Services' Economic Inclusion efforts focus on two categories of suppliers:
- Local Suppliers - those suppliers with locations in West Philadelphia as well as those within the broader City of Philadelphia
- Diversity Suppliers - those suppliers that are minority-owned, woman-owned, or hold other diversity classifications (e.g. Protected Veteran, LGBTQ)
Its approach to economic inclusion is centered around certain key elements:
- Community Engagement – participating regularly in events and forums to ensure close connection with the community and the supply base
- Partnerships – collaborating with internal and external partners to mutually advance inclusion efforts
- Active Supplier Promotion – managing systems and programs to actively promote local and diversity suppliers
- Goal-setting, Measuring and Reporting – setting economic inclusion goals, measuring performance, and reporting performance to leadership and the community
By specifically targeting local suppliers and including a preference for local vendors in contracts, Penn has been able to reduce the delivery and travel distance of goods and services. This preference is included in requests for proposals issued by the University. Full contracts and RFPs cannot be posted; however, as part of the criteria for evaluation, contracts can include: "Support of WBE/MBE and West Philadelphia-based business enterprises." More information on this and a list of some of Penn's local and diversity suppliers can be found here: https://procurement.upenn.edu/economic-inclusion
More information on this and a list of some of Penn's local and diversity suppliers can be found here: https://procurement.upenn.edu/economic-inclusion/local-and-diversity-suppliers
Transportation and fuels
Yes
A brief description of the published sustainability criteria for transportation and fuels:
Penn has published the Low-Emissions Vehicle Purchasing Guide: https://www.sustainability.upenn.edu/resources/low-emissions-vehicle-purchasing-guide
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---
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.