Purchasing has the power to help mitigate climate change, reduce income inequality, and build strong local economies, but only if we make the commitment to invest in our future by investing in sustainable companies.
Three Key Findings about Sustainable
Purchasing
1) Good policy creates demand
2) Aggregating supply spurs growth
3) Innovation overcomes barriers
Good Policy Creates Demand: Ben & Jerry’s
Ben & Jerry’s, the popular ice cream maker in
Vermont, follows a three part mission: creating
high-quality products while maintaining a
sustainable financial model and committing to
social activism.
Greyston Bakery, another B Corp, was founded in
1982 with the mission to create great baked goods
while providing jobs and job training to those who
face barriers to employment. Greyston makes the
brownies for B&J’s wildly popular, Chocolate Fudge
Brownie ice cream.
Aggregating Supply Spurs Growth: TOG
TOG aggregates, distributes,
and markets USDA organic
produce on behalf of its farmers
to restaurants, major organic
grocery retailers, food retail
cooperatives, community-
supported agriculture,
institutional food service buyers,
produce distributors, and
buying clubs.
Innovation Overcomes Barriers: ICIC
Initiative for a Competitive Inner
City (ICIC) is a non-profit
organization championing small
businesses to promote economic
growth within inner cities. Its
goals are to foster an anchored
local economy, inner-city
business growth, and the
economic resilience needed for
sustainable communities.
Kris Spriano
Kris Spriano is a passionate, seasoned
sustainability professional with
demonstrated success in design and
execution of supply chain sustainability
objectives for a Fortune 100.
Before coming to SPLC, Kris was the
Supply Chain Sustainability Manager at
Cisco Systems, where she worked in a
variety of supply chain roles over the last
16 years. Among other impressive
accomplishments and initiatives, Kris led
the development and execution of the
tech industry’s first-ever Scope 3 end-to-
end supply chain emissions reduction
program which has already met over 38%
of its 2020 1 million tonne CO2e
reduction goal.
Where BENCHMARK fits into SPLC’s Programs
Benchmarking to Peers
Benchmark to SPLC Maturity
Model
Training / Education
Category Guidance
Process Guidance
Principles
Leadership Community of Practice
COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE
Organizations compete to
help improve their
performance on
benchmarks.
MARKET
TRANSFORMATION
Market clarity and competition results
in improved products and services
becoming available for everyone in the
marketplace.
MARKET
CLARITY
Multi-sector guidance
enables purchasers and
suppliers to speak a
common language.
+ =
Leadership
Recognition
SPLC BENCHMARKSM is…
• A process management-based set of programs and tools that drive leadership in sustainable
purchasing
Benchmarking to
Peers
Benchmarking to SPLC’s
Maturity Model
Training / Education
Category Guidance
Process Guidance
Principles
Leadership Community of Practice
Leadership
Recognition
How does my sustainable
purchasing program compare to
peers in my sector or org?
What can I learn from all
of this to improve my
program?
What does a good
sustainable
purchasing
program look like?
How does my sustainable
purchasing program measure
up to this?
Establish strategic goals
Create action plan
BENCHMARK Maturity Model:
Built on substantial member input
Guidance for Leadership in Sustainable Purchasing
38 Questions
4 measured “maturity levels”
SPLC BENCHMARK Maturity Model: A HIGH BAR
LEADINGInitiating Developing Improving
Leadership in SPLC’s Maturity Model sets a VERY HIGH BAR. This is because our goal in doing sustainable purchasing is
to transform our global economy into one that is genuinely sustainable, from an environmental, social, and economic
perspective. Therefore, the “Leading” maturity level describes how purchasing organizations will be operating when
we have achieved a genuinely sustainable global economy. This makes SPLC BENCHMARK a highly useful tool for
measuring how well we are doing on achieving that goal.
These are the
things all
purchasing
organizations will
be doing when we
have a truly
sustainable global
economy
SPLC BENCHMARKSM Process
Sustainable Purchasing
Scorecards & Action Steps
Online Data
Submission Tool
3rd Party Data
Validation
1 2 3
Individual Org
Peer Comparison
SPLC BENCHMARKSM Cohort Program
Participating Organizations
NASPO (State-level) Cohort:
State of Minnesota
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
State of Oregon
State of California
State of Connecticut
State of Oklahoma
State of California Agency Cohort:
Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR)
Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
Department of Fish & Wildlife
Department of Resources, Recycle and
Recovery (CalRecycle)
Department of Housing and Community
Development
Department of General Services
(OBAS)
High-Speed Rail Authority
Department of Fire and Forestry
Protection
Benefits identified by our participants
Improve operational
efficiencies.
By identifying and removing
duplicative and/or mis-aligned
activities; and capitalizing on
leading best practices developed
by a cross-sector community of
experts.
Demonstrate leadership.
Identify strategic leadership within
your organization including third-
party certification you can take
forward to your customers,
employees, investors and
customers with confidence.
Obtain a strategic path for
moving forward.
Receive an organized framework
of strategic next steps to achieve
and justify your next level of
leadership in sustainable
purchasing.
Reduce risk from complex
supply chains.
Understand the operational levers
that ensure the social, economic
and environmental performance of
your supply chain in order to
mitigate risks and increase supply
chain resiliency.
Formalize your program.
Identify a comprehensive
“inventory” of existing activities that
define your sustainable purchasing
program, and serve as the
foundation for cross-functional
communication and progress.
Build a team of champions.
Partner with internal and external
peers to learn, teach and drive
supply chain practices which
enable a global sustainable
economy.
“You have demonstrated leadership in
understanding your sustainable purchasing
impacts.”
“Increase your leadership maturity by publicly
reporting your program’s goals and results.”
Key Takeaway #1:
It is now possible to pinpoint how mature an organization is across multiple dimensions
of sustainable purchasing leadership.
These are the
things all
purchasing
organizations will
be doing when we
realize the truly
sustainable global
economy we want
LEADINGInitiating Developing Improving
YOU
ARE
HERE
Key Takeaway #2:
BENCHMARK has revealed the path that states can follow to lead their regions towards
a genuinely sustainable economy
0 1 2 3 4
Transparency
Innovation
Results
Commitment
Understanding
NASPO Median CA Agency Median
Not Started INITIATING DEVELOPING IMPROVING LEADING
TREMENDOUS
OPPORTUNITY
to create a truly
sustainable economy
Median Maturity Level
Key Takeaway #3:
BENCHMARK provides segmentation which enables targeted assistance
0.0
1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
State#2 State#3 State#6 Dept#3 Dept#6 Dept#7 Dept#8
NASPO States and CA Agencies
Understanding Commitment Results Innovation Transparency
INITIATING
DEVELOPING
IMPROVING
LEADING
Not Started
Have many formal program elements
(eg. best practices) in place. Need help
broadening what is included in their
programs in an efficient way; and in a
more inclusive manner with
stakeholders.
0
1
2
3
4
State#1 State#5 Dept#1 Dept#2 Dept#4 Dept#5
NASPO States and CA Agencies
Understanding Commitment Results Innovation Transparency
INITIATING
DEVELOPING
IMPROVING
LEADING
Not Started
Emerging Leaders
Have few formal program elements in
place. Need help building momentum
from ad hoc activities in order to win
support for establishing a formal
program. Need help visioning and
designing program elements
appropriate for their org.
Program Initiators
Key Takeaway #4
The most consistently under-utilized best practice is engaging suppliers. Tremendous
opportunity to activate supplier innovation and assistance.
23
0
1
2
3
Supplier Engagement Organizational
Processes & Policy
Stakeholder
Engagement
Staff Engagement
Median Maturity by Evaluation Category
INITIATING
DEVELOPING
IMPROVING
Not Started
OPTION 1
Quick
Assessment
OPTION 2
Maturity Model
OPTION 3
Guided Individual
Assessment
OPTION 4
Guided Cohort
Assessment
Ways to Use BENCHMARK
Self-guided 11-
question “Quick
Assessment”
Worksheet identifying
current priorities and
related activities
Self-guided 38-
question “Full
Assessment” which sits
behind the SPLC
BENCHMARK online
platform
Contracted consultative
project in which SPLC
staff lead Full
Assessment; leverages
SPLC BENCHMARK
online platform and
provides validated
maturity reports and
action plan.
Training and peer-to-peer
learning project in which
participants lead Full
Assessment with SPLC
support. Results in
validated maturity reports,
action plans, and cohort
peer benchmarking.
Free Download!
Next Steps
• To download the full report, visit
asbcouncil.org/procurementreport
• For questions, email Eliza Kelsten at ekelsten@asbcouncil.org
• SPLC BENCHMARKSM:
https://www.sustainablepurchasing.org/benchmarking/
• To get in touch with Kris, email
Kris@sustainablepurchasing.org
Notes de l'éditeur
Thank you for having me! Today, I’ll be sharing a bit more about the SPLC BENCHMARK Program, focusing on the high-level results from our Cohort Pilot Program which began last August and ran through the early part of this year.
I’ll start by providing some background on the approach, review some of the benefits that our past participants have highlighted and then give you all a view of the types of sector-level insights that we’ve been able to achieve as a result.
BENCHMARK Background (Sam)
NASPO Investments in BENCHMARK (Sam)
Program Accomplishments (Kris)
Key Takeaways (Kris)
Participating Sharing & Feedback (Kris leads; Julia and Johanna participating)
Opportunities to Extend NASPO's Leadership (Sam)
SPLC commonly describes its services using this pyramid of programs and offerings. We have foundational sustainable purchasing and supply chain resources which connect multiple sectors through a common language and understanding of leadership. We then build on foundation by providing levers that challenge organizations to excel. It is that space where Benchmark serves to assess and measure an organization’s sustainable purchasing activities.
So, Benchmark is a process management-based set of programs and tools that drive leadership in sustainable purchasing.
Ultimately, Benchmark seeks to answer questions like…<READ QUESTIONS>. At the end of this process, participants are provided with strategic next steps to move the needle on their organization’s maturity.
The SPLC Maturity Model is the underlying framework for all benchmarking activities. This model was built by the Benchmark Working Group who leveraged years of curated leading best practices obtained from a cross-sector of leaders in sustainable purchasing.
It should also be noted here that Leadership in SPLC’s Maturity Model sets a VERY HIGH BAR.
We have already seen in its use that achieving a validated LEADING response is unique and sets apart those who are able to achieve it in even a handful of up to 38 prioritized leadership practices.
SPLC BENCHMARK Platform is the foundation for getting us there. The platform delivers the Maturity Model organized under the framework of our Principles for Leadership. The process includes 3rd party validation and the generation of two reports benchmarking maturity to the Model and maturity to a particular group of peers.
BENCHMARK Background (Sam)
NASPO Investments in BENCHMARK (Sam)
Program Accomplishments (Kris)
Key Takeaways (Kris)
Participating Sharing & Feedback (Kris leads; Julia and Johanna participating)
Opportunities to Extend NASPO's Leadership (Sam)
Between 2017 and early 2018, fourteen independent purchasing organizations experienced the Benchmark process by-way of cohort workshops. The first was a team representing six states as you see here. The second took the state of California into a deeper, internal investigation into the sustainable purchasing activities of eight of their agencies.
BENCHMARK Background (Sam)
NASPO Investments in BENCHMARK (Sam)
Program Accomplishments (Kris)
Key Takeaways (Kris)
Participating Sharing & Feedback (Kris leads; Julia and Johanna participating)
Opportunities to Extend NASPO's Leadership (Sam)
[This slide is about the MATURITY MODEL. It is now possible to see where an organization is in the intermediate space between getting started and leadership.]
With NASPO’s help, we have been able to define what a truly sustainable global economy is, establish a building block set of best practices that achieve that leadership, and demonstrate that it IS possible to measure an organization or set of organizations against those milestones.
Here you see a more detailed breakdown of how NASPO cohort participants measured up to that comprehensive definition of sustainable purchasing leadership. <<WALK THRU CHART>>
We wouldn’t expect any organization around the world to be measured significantly better than this at this point.
However, the difference is that NASPO now sits at the forefront of being able to use the organized framework of required steps to move forward (ahead) in maturity to all other organizations. In short, NASPO sits at the forefront of leading a sustainable purchasing revolution!
Sustainable purchasing maturity varies across states and even internally within those states. However, what was clear throughout the process and demonstrated in the teams’ Benchmark results was two groups with varying needs:
Emerging Leaders: Those organizations that recognize what sustainable purchasing is, and have invested in developing very specific practices within our defined maturity model. Interestingly, these emerging leaders often lead in areas complementary to one another. In other words, together, their experience in leading best practices is much more mature than an individual organization’s leadership across the 38 measured areas. Therefore, they have a lot to gain by further sharing what they are doing with one another.
Just Starting: These organizations are either just starting to learn the strategic definition of a sustainable purchasing program, requiring a more basic understanding of its components.
SIDE NOTE: Only two (of 14) organizations fell somewhere “in between” these two major groups.
NOTE: Supplier Engagement in this context includes:
Assessing impacts
Collaborating on goals
Product/service-level evaluation
Supplier’s enterprise-level evaluation
Supplier development (diversity, product innovation, etc)
Supplier transparency
There are now four ways to utilize the Benchmark Approach and start taking advantage of its benefits.
The first is our newly released self-directed Quick Assessment. This new tool allows teams to obtain an introduction to the Benchmark Approach in a consolidated 11-question format, while still getting a sampling of its benefits. We recommend this as a first step for anyone wanting to take advantage of any part of Benchmark.
The second is the Maturity Model, which is the 38-question full assessment built into our 3rd and 4th options. Organizations may download the document for free, but are on their own to assess themselves against the criteria.
We’re very excited to begin offering Guided Individual Assessments for those that are looking to benchmark to the Maturity Model, and want to take advantage of our online platform. In this option, SPLC staff uses an interview-based approach to walk your organization through the full 38-question assessment, and then provide a Maturity Report including strategic next steps tailored to your organization.
And the final option is the Guided Cohort Assessment. This is great for organizations that wish to experience Benchmark together as an interactive workshop, further supporting sharing of results and best practices uncovered in the group.