75% of Firms Incorporate CSR into Procurement Bidding Process

About 90 percent of European procurement directors view sustainable procurement as “critical” or “important,” and three-quarters of firms are integrating CSR into the supply chain bidding process, according to a sustainable supply survey from Ecovadis.

About 37 percent of companies have instituted sustainable procurement departments, although CSR evaluations of suppliers do not yet cover the entire supply chain, with only 11 percent of companies applying them to all suppliers, according to the “Sustainable Procurement: a Crucial Lever to End the Crisis?” report (PDF, registration required). The study was based on responses from 75 large European companies and 21 one-on-one interviews.

About 30 percent of firms allocate significant weight to CSR criteria in the grading and selection system (with an average weight of 10 percent), the study found.

Here are some more highlights of the report.

• Sustainable procurement remains the No. 3 priority of procurement directors, after achieving savings on indirect and direct spending, respectively.
• Only 11 percent of companies intend to reduce their sustainable procurement budget, while 35 percent will increase it despite the budget cuts affecting most companies.
• Half of the companies have raised their buyers’ awareness, or fully trained them, on sustainable development concerns.
• The tools specific to sustainable procurement have evolved, with a focus on supplier evaluation and risk analysis tools for each procurement category or each country (+15 percent deployment over one year).
• Three-quarters of firms are integrating CSR into the bidding process and 30 percent of them allocate significant weight to these criteria in the grading and selection system (with an average weight of 10 percent).
• About 75 percent of firms use sustainable procurement performance measurement indicators although these indicators are still largely focused on processes and resources.