Monitoring and reporting
Good monitoring and reporting are essential to make sure this approach works and helps us achieve our policy goals. We will set up a clear governance structure to make sure the policy is applied consistently and effectively across all tenders.
Monitor
We will track key information such as:
- How many tenders the policy has been used in, their total value and the reasons where it has not been applied.
- How the policy is applied to contracts above and below £1 million.
- The percentage weighting and points targets used in evaluation.
- Supplier’s commitments to delivering sustainable initiatives, in other words, which initiatives suppliers have chosen and their targets.
- How well suppliers have delivered on their commitments and whether they are completed (using the SIB social value unit reporting tool).
- The number of contracts reserved to Social Enterprises, Belfast based companies and NI based companies.
Review
Best practice for this policy is always changing, so it’s important that we keep it up to date.
We will set up a Sustainable Procurement Review Team that will meet regularly to review:
- feedback, complaints or issues about the policy and what actions that need completed
- the quality of the supplier offers and any improvements needed, for example, evaluation training for staff or clearer guidance for suppliers
- the impact the policy is having
- any updates required to the policy and supporting guidance documents in line with new best practice.
We will work with our marketing and communications team to share examples of successful projects and create case studies. This will help raise awareness of the policy and show the difference it is making.
Report
We will continue to work with the Social Value Unit at SIB to improve how we collect data and report on progress. This will help us track how well sustainability commitments are being delivered and take action if suppliers do not meet them.
We will agree what information needs to be reported and provide regular updates to senior management and elected members (in other words, Councillors), using the key data we collect.
We will also include the results of the policy in our annual procurement performance report. This will highlight the benefits and impact of the policy and identify opportunities to improve it further.
