GEC Sustainable Procurement Workshop and Training: Sustainable Procurement Best Practices & Considerations
The GEC workshop, "Sustainable Procurement Best Practices & Considerations" explains the foundational aspects of a sustainable purchasing program, viewed through the lens of the procurement professional. The training embodies GEC's "Procurement First" philosophy which seeks to find balance primary procurement needs and the need to buy more sustainable products. The workshop highlights a series of tactics and best practices that characterize a successful sustainable purchasing program and are applicable to most all commonly purchased commodities, inclusive of IT. In 2019, GEC offered the workshop on five separate occasions to states, cities, and institutions of higher educations including a total of more than 100 procurement professionals. The ½ Day workshop covers topics including: • Understanding the Sustainable Purchasing Value Add • Organizational considerations and Buy-In • Commodity prioritization and Specification Development • Embedding Sustainability into the Procurement Process • Maintaining a Sustainable Purchasing Program The workshop offers procurement professionals the knowledge and tools to embed sustainable procurement considerations into the procurement process. It is designed to help those that are in the early stages of implementing a broad program, or institutional purchasers looking to reinvigorate a sustainable purchasing program.
The GEC Sustainable Procurement workshop is given by GEC staff with more than a decade of experience running and maintaining a sustainable procurement program in Washington, D.C. This is the second year in which GEC offered workshops. The workshop has been received with broad acclaim The workshop has been given to procurement departments in a total of four states in the US, featured during conferences, and it was held during a regional meeting that attracted universities and cities located in the Southern California region. Most recently, the workshop was featured via live webinar for CEU credits in partnership with the National Association of State Procurement Officials. The workshop includes a core set of best practices and learning objectives but can be customized to address the most relevant needs of its recipient. The workshop is based upon GEC's "Procurement First" philosophy, which aims to embed sustainable considerations into existing procurement systems and find balance between the innate responsibilities and priorities that all procurement professionals must embody, and the need to buy sustainable products and services.
