University of Southern California
OP-11: Sustainable Procurement

Part 1. Institution-wide sustainable procurement policies

Institution has written policies, guidelines, or directives that seek to support sustainable purchasing across multiple commodity categories, institution-wide. For example:

• A stated preference for post-consumer recycled or bio-based content, for carbon neutral products, or to otherwise minimize the negative environmental impacts of products and services.

• A stated intent to support disadvantaged businesses, social enterprises and/or local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), or otherwise support positive social and economic impacts and minimize negative impacts.

• A vendor code of conduct or equivalent policy that sets standards for the social and environmental responsibility of the institution’s business partners that exceed basic legal compliance.

Part 2. Life Cycle Cost Analysis

Institution employs Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) as a matter of policy and practice when evaluating energy- and water-using products, systems, and building components (e.g., HVAC systems). Practices may include structuring requests for proposals (RFPs) so that vendors compete on the basis of lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) in addition to (or instead of) purchase price.

Please note that LCCA is a method for assessing the total cost of ownership over the life cycle of a product or system (i.e., purchase, installation, operation, maintenance, and disposal). Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), by contrast, is a method for assessing the environmental impacts of a product or service over its life cycle. While LCAs may inform the sustainability criteria recognized in Part 1 and Part 3 of this credit, Part 2 specifically recognizes institutions that employ LCCA.

Part 3. Product-specific sustainability criteria

Institution has published sustainability criteria to be applied when evaluating products and/or services in one or more of the following categories. The criteria may be included in broader policies such as those recognized in Part 1, however they 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.

Policies and directives adopted by entities of which the institution is part (e.g., government or the university system) may count for this credit as long as the policies apply to and are followed by the institution.

This credit applies to all institutions.

Each part is scored independently.

Part 1

An institution earns 0.5 point for Part 1 of this credit for having written policies, guidelines, or directives that that seek to support sustainable purchasing across multiple commodity categories, institution-wide. Partial points are not available for Part 1.

Part 2

An institution earns 1 point for Part 2 of this credit for employing Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) as a matter of policy and standard practice when evaluating all energy- and water-using products and systems. Partial points are available for institutions that employ LCCA less comprehensively. For example, an institution that employs LCCA for certain types of systems or projects and not others would earn 0.5 points (half of the points available for Part 2).

Part 3

Institution earns 0.25 points for each category of products and/or services for which it has published sustainability criteria. A maximum of 1.5 points are available for Part 3.

Timeframe

Report on current policies and practices at the time of submission.

Sampling and Data Standards

Not applicable.