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Tag: Procurement toolkit

Find the latest information and tips for world class procurement

  • Sustainable Sourcing: 7 Powerful Ways to Turn Your Next Tender into a Sustainability Win

    Sustainable Sourcing: 7 Powerful Ways to Turn Your Next Tender into a Sustainability Win

    Beyond the Usual Priorities in Tenders

    Sustainable sourcing is no longer optional—it’s a strategic advantage. When companies launch sourcing projects, they typically focus on cost, risk, delivery timelines, and supplier reliability. But today’s business environment demands more. Every tender is now an opportunity to drive sustainability—both environmental and social.

    With growing pressure from consumers, investors, and regulators, sourcing isn’t just about savings. It’s a lever for long-term value, resilience, and positive impact.

    Here’s how to embed sustainability into every step of the sourcing process.

    1. Defining the Needs: Set the Right Foundation

    Sustainable sourcing starts by asking the right questions:
    • What environmental or social impacts does this purchase have?
    • Can we reduce quantities or opt for recycled or low-carbon alternatives?
    • Are there opportunities to align this tender with our sustainability goals (e.g., circular economy, carbon neutrality)?

    Tips for Success:

    • Involve departments like sustainability, operations, and product development from the start.
    • Clearly define how this sourcing activity supports company-wide goals.
    • Share early drafts with suppliers to understand feasibility and spark input.

    Example: For packaging, require recycled content, recyclability, and local sourcing.

    2. Market Research: Find the Right Partners

    Go beyond price when exploring the supplier market. Look for those who can deliver both performance and sustainability.

    What to Look For:

    • Certifications (e.g., ISO 14001, B Corp, Fair Trade)
    • Repairable, recyclable, or low-impact product design
    • Evidence of carbon reduction, water stewardship, or waste minimization

    Tip: Ask suppliers for innovation ideas or examples of recent sustainability improvements.

    Example: For electronics, seek repairable designs and track record in reducing e-waste.

    3. Drafting the RFP: Make Sustainability Core

    Your Request for Proposal should reflect your sustainability ambition.

    What to Include:

    • Specific requirements (e.g., recycled content, energy use, labor standards)
    • Requests for sustainability performance data (e.g., carbon footprint, lifecycle analysis)
    • Scoring criteria that give sustainability real weight—not just a footnote

    Encourage Innovation: Include a section for “alternative sustainable proposals”—allowing suppliers to suggest better or greener options.

    Example Clauses:

    1. Minimum % of sustainable materials
    2. Carbon reduction commitments
    3. Waste reduction and take-back programs

    4. Evaluation and Selection: Think Long-Term

    Choose suppliers based on total value—not just price.

    Evaluate Based On:

    • Lifecycle costs, including energy use and end-of-life disposal
    • Compliance with EU regulations (e.g., CSRD, Taxonomy)
    • Carbon footprint, water use, and overall environmental metrics

    Example: For transport, prioritize providers with low-emission fleets or alternative fuels.

    5. Negotiating Contracts: Lock In Accountability

    Once selected, the contract should reflect your sustainability expectations.

    Clauses to Include:

    • Periodic reporting on sustainability KPIs
    • Penalties for non-compliance or bonuses for overperformance
    • Continuous improvement targets across contract duration

    6. Monitoring and Collaboration: Keep It Going

    Sustainability doesn’t end when the contract is signed. It requires consistent review and dialogue.

    Key Actions:

    • Schedule performance check-ins with sustainability metrics
    • Conduct site visits or audits
    • Partner on joint initiatives (e.g., waste reduction, product redesign)

    Example: For packaging, track % of recycled content used year over year.

    7. Ask Your Suppliers — It Pays Off

    Leaving space in your tender for alternative proposals can lead to unexpected sustainability wins.

    Why?

    • Suppliers bring deep market and technical knowledge
    • Co-creation increases commitment and performance
    • You might discover lower-impact or more cost-effective solutions

    Real Examples:

    • Unilever adopted post-consumer recycled plastic after a supplier proposed it
    • IKEA improved textile dyeing practices based on supplier innovation

    Turn Every Tender Into a Sustainability Win

    Sourcing is no longer just a function of cost control—it’s an opportunity to drive systemic change.

    Start small. Add one sustainability clause. Invite one supplier suggestion. Score one RFP with emissions in mind.

    Because what you source is how your business shows up in the world.

    Let each tender bring you closer to your sustainability goals—while building more resilient, future-ready supply chains.

    Ready to Act?

    Sustainable sourcing doesn’t require a total overhaul—just the willingness to start. Whether you’re updating your next tender or reviewing supplier performance, small changes can drive big impact.

    📌 Need support embedding sustainability into your sourcing strategy?
    📩 Reach out or explore more resources on The Procurementor to start making every tender a sustainability win.

  • AI : The New Procurement Companion to Unlock Your Potential

    AI : The New Procurement Companion to Unlock Your Potential

    Everyone speaks of AI today, performing tasks like negotiation, spend analysis, and contract management for you. While there is tremendous value in this (in the future or if you are ready to pay), let’s explore how AI like ChatGPT or Gemini can help you today to unlock your procurement’s potential (from $0 to $20 a month) with three roles it can play:

    • Your Tech Assistant
    • Your Sourcing Buddy
    • Your Digitalization Accelerator (for larger procurement organizations, with an Enterprise Plan)

    Let’s find out how to take advantage of the AI revolution, even if you aren’t ready to use one of the many new tech solutions vendors.

    1. AI as Your Own Personal Tech Assistant:

    We’ve all been there, thinking that something should be automated, but not knowing how to do it, and either end up doing the tedious task manually or dropping it. With AI as your silent workhorse, even organizations that lack tech resources can now automate these tasks, leading to more efficient time management and better decisions.

    Now, anytime you are doing something over and over, AI can write bots for you in a matter of minutes:

    • You have a mountain of Excel files with varying degrees of completeness that you want to aggregate.
      • Before: This required manually copy-pasting through spreadsheets for hours or having advanced VBA skills to write a macro.
      • With AI: Command an AI to write a program that concatenates all files, and even identify/complete data gaps. Press the “start” button, and you have the consolidated file ready.
    • You have information scattered across PDF documents of varying quality.
      • Before: This required scrolling through documents and often reporting the information into an Excel through copy-paste.
      • With AI: Command an AI to write an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) program to identify the information you are looking for and report it in an Excel file. Press “start” and let it go through all your PDF files.
    • You want to create a custom dashboard that is dynamic and reflects your own KPIs.
      • Before: This required some data retrieval skills (SQL, PowerBi, etc.) and hours of setting up to look decent.
      • With AI: Command an AI to design the Dashboard how you want it to look and specify what type of sources it should be using. Link your newly created dashboard to your files, and voilà!

    AI as your tech assistant can significantly streamline repetitive and time-consuming tasks, bringing efficiency and accuracy to your processes.

    2. AI as Your Sourcing Buddy:

    In procurement, sourcing the right products and services at the best prices is critical. AI, like ChatGPT, can significantly enhance this process by giving you access to world-class techniques and tools in an instant.

    • Market Research and Supplier Identification
      • Before: Manually searching for suppliers, evaluating their credibility, and comparing prices and terms. This is time-consuming and often incomplete.
      • With AI: Command AI to conduct comprehensive market research, identify potential suppliers, and even initiate preliminary contact. It can quickly analyze vast amounts of data, including reviews and ratings, to suggest the best suppliers.
    • You need coaching to prepare for an important negotiation.
      • Before: Preparing for a negotiation used to look like filling in a spreadsheet with BATNA, ZOPA, etc., and at best finding a buddy to roleplay with.
      • With AI: Ask AI to act as your counterpart and simulate negotiation scenarios based on historical data, suggest optimal negotiation strategies, and even draft potential negotiation scripts. It can also help you build reverse cost breakdown and any other analysis you may need!

    AI as your sourcing buddy can transform the procurement process by providing comprehensive market research, supplier identification, and enhanced negotiation support.

    3. AI as Your Digitalization Accelerator:

    Developing custom digital solutions is often associated with lengthy development cycles and prohibitive costs. With an enterprise account, you can start to safely upload and use your company data with AI models, and at this point: the sky is the limit.

    AI can 10x the output of your tech resources, empowering you to develop solutions quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively. You can use AI to generate the interface in a matter of minutes, and use AI to power the backend with powerful insights!

    With AI, nothing is too complex anymore:

    → Feel like automating inventory management? Build a program that uses video input, and your warehouse camera could do the counting for you, and trigger re-ordering automatically.

    → Feel like improving your procurement support to the business? Create user-friendly and up-to-date wiki and SOP documents in minutes based on your existing procurement documentation. Already done? Create a chatbot to answer your stakeholders’ questions timely and efficiently.

    AI as your digitalization accelerator can revolutionize custom digital solution development, making the process faster and more cost-effective. I hope this will lead procurement to be more innovative and try new things even more often !

    Conclusion:

    The integration of AI in procurement processes offers transformative benefits.

    As a tech assistant, AI enhances efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, allowing for more strategic use of time and resources.

    As a sourcing buddy, it revolutionizes procurement by enabling comprehensive market analysis, improving negotiation preparation, and facilitating smart supplier selection.

    As a digitalization accelerator, AI empowers organizations to rapidly develop and deploy customized, data-driven solutions, greatly enhancing operational capabilities.

    Embracing AI in procurement, from routine tasks to complex operations, not only streamlines processes but also unlocks unprecedented potential in efficiency and innovation, all within an accessible cost range.