This policy explains how the National Jazz Archive will integrate environmental and social considerations into its procurement policies and practices.
By adopting sustainable procurement processes we will ensure we meet our needs for goods, services, works and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis in terms of generating benefits to the Archive, society and the economy, whilst minimising damage to the environment.
Ensuing sustainability is embedded across every function, including procurement, is essential to our goal of making a sustainable contribution to society. We recognise that improving our procurement performance is an ongoing process and that our suppliers are important partners in our journey to become more sustainable.
Aims and Objectives
Our aims and objectives are to
- Minimise our environmental impact and deliver community benefits through better selection and improved use of products and services;
- Encourage innovation in our supply markets to increase the availability and effectiveness of sustainable solutions that also meet our requirements;
- Ensure our chosen suppliers adopt practices that minimise their environmental impact and deliver community benefits throughout their supply chains;
- Engage with suppliers to achieve common sustainability goals and continually improve performance over time;
- Make procurement decisions based on the appropriate balance between economic, environmental and social factors;
- Encourage a diverse range of suppliers and give equal opportunities to suppliers owned by currently under-represented groups;
- Follow a fair process to select and award business to suppliers.
Supplier Code of Conduct
The National Jazz Archive expects its suppliers to ensure their practices are supportive of our approach to sustainability. We expect to purchase goods and services that have been produced or delivered with minimum impact on the environment and with due regard for social issues, including employment conditions and welfare.
We reserve the right to refuse partnerships with suppliers that do not achieve the following minimum standard, or who cannot show evidence of an action plan to address any short comings:
- Protect workers by ensuring fair employment practices are in place;
- Take active steps to identify, address and prevent Modern Slavery in their organisation and down their supply chain;
- Provide the Living Wage for members of staff;
- Protect the environment by reducing the carbon emissions and environmental impacts of their products and services;
- Promote equality, diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities within a diverse workplace
- Create a safe and healthy workplace;
- Comply with all applicable laws and contractual terms and conditions;
- Demonstrate high standards of business ethics;
- Comply with cyber security and data protection laws or requirements and standards.
Operational Approach
The National Jazz Archive has adopted the following operational approach regarding sustainable procurement:
- A focus on supply markets that have the largest environmental or social impacts in terms of our expenditure or sustainability risk;
- Major procurement decisions, as determined by the Operations Manager, will involve cross-functional teams to ensure the most sustainable outcomes are achieved;
- Environmental and social requirements will be integrated into all procurement activities, including the pre-qualification, specification and evaluation of major goods and services;
- Reasonable efforts will be taken to ensure all tenders are evaluated to take account of both the environmental or social aspects of a product or service over its whole-life cycle, and the supplier’s sustainability performance;
- Where practical, we will actively encourage and influence our suppliers to improve their sustainability practices;
- We will support and deliver community benefits through our procurement decisions, and will work in partnership with other organisations to achieve this.
Accountability and Responsibilities
All those working on behalf of the National Jazz Archive, including staff, contractors, volunteers and Trustees, have a shared responsibility for integrating this policy into their decision making. The Operations Manager has overall accountability for developing a coordinated and integrated approach to implementing this approach, including training, and will be supported by the Board of Trustees.
Review
The Board of Trustees of the National Jazz Archive will review this policy and the Archive’s performance against any related targets on an annual basis and will include the involvement of suppliers as deemed appropriate by the Trustees.
We will monitor and report the environmental and social outcomes achieved from the application of this policy as part of our annual report to key stakeholders.
This policy was authorised at Issue 1.0 by the Board of Trustees on XX August 2023.
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