Greening Government Operations (GGO)

Strategies / Comments

1. Approach: SSC’s approach to implementing green procurement is to continue to concentrate on maximizing the use of established procurement vehicles such as standing offers and supply arrangements, and encourage the use of acquisition cards for goods and services under $10,000. SSC has taken on the challenge of implementing an electronic Request for Acquisition Services (RAS), implementing an e-Procurement and Payment solution, and setting the conditions for an electronic bid receipt. The Department continues to afford key personnel the opportunity for training and negotiating green procurement objectives in employee performance evaluations.
2. Management Processes and Controls: SSC uses established procurement instruments as its primary procurement mechanism and leverages environmental considerations incorporated into these standing offers.
   Furthermore SSC has:
   • reviewed its procurement and materiel management policies to ensure they incorporate environmental considerations;
   • issued contracts in accordance with the Departmental Delegation of Authorities Instrument;
   • ensured clear links were established between procurement activities and departmental investments;
   • established effective and accountable procurement management processes and controls;
   • ensured procurement staff was qualified and competent through the promotion of consistent and ongoing training;
   • ensured integrated procurement information systems and processes were in place;
   • reviewed the RAS templates used for initiating goods and services contracts and has implemented an electronic RAS process, thereby maximizing the opportunity to include environmental considerations in the procurement process; and
   • initiated an e-Procurement solution to industry in order to advance an electronic Procure-to-Pay process.
   These management processes and controls continue to be selected because they are the driving force behind SSC’s Green Procurement process.
3. Setting Targets: In addition to commitments identified in ii., iv., and v., SSC has set the following target:
   • Establish the baseline for and maximize the use of consolidated e-Procurement instruments.
4. Training: SSC continues to ensure that all existing procurement and materiel management functional specialist staff complete Canada School of Public Service course C215 – Green Procurement, by the end of the fiscal year. The Department also requires that all new functional specialist staff complete the course within three months of being hired.
5. Performance Evaluations: In its second year, SSC has made environmental considerations a part of the performance management agreement for every procurement manager.
6. Meeting Targets: The Department is committed to implementing improvements and efficiencies through the analysis of current processes and controls, and to setting attainable targets. Ongoing analysis continues to identify opportunities for these improvements and serves as the catalyst for changes in green procurement behaviour. This ongoing commitment has highlighted specific processes and controls.

Free PDF download

To access the Portable Document Format (PDF) version you must have a PDF reader installed. If you do not already have such a reader, there are numerous PDF readers available for free download or for purchase on the Internet:

• Adobe Reader
• Foxit Reader
• Xpdf
• eXPert PDFReader