Pilot OpenStrategy® for Sustainable Procurement in the North West Final Project Report to Defra Sustainable Procurement Task Force Secretariat Prepared by: Matthew Wilkinson Sustainable Development Policy Team North West Regional Assembly Wigan Investment Centre Waterside Drive Wigan WN3 5BA Tel: 01942 776724 [email protected] Executive Summary This is the final project report of the Pilot phase of the OpenStrategy® (OS) for sustainable procurement in the North West. This has been funded jointly by Defra’s Sustainable Procurement Task Force (SPTF) Secretariat, North West Regional Assembly (NWRA) and Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). In August 2005, these organisations embarked on a project to provide a basis for a sustainable procurement strategy for the North West using the OpenStrategy® technique. This document is complemented by an Independent Evaluation Report of the OS technique by Forum for the Future (Forum), using this pilot as the primary case study, whilst also drawing upon other applications across the country. The report is available from the Forum for the Future website1. The overall aims of this project were to pilot the OS technique and, in the process, work towards the development of a sustainable procurement strategy for the North West region. A total of 11 stakeholders were engaged with this process and the pilot was supported over a period from the end of September 2005 to May 2006. The OpenStrategy® (OS) system offers a new and innovative approach to multiple stakeholder associations that enables the processes of communication, negotiation, prioritisation and agreement. It is specifically designed to facilitate these processes in partnerships where large numbers of organisations reside. It enables and facilitates the delivery of more effective outcomes by means of a new methodology including a web- based tool that allows stakeholders to work together in a collaborative, transparent, and strategic manner. Finally, OS helps stakeholders identify duplication of effort, which can lead to financial savings (particularly of interest to councils who are trying to meet Gershon review targets). Further information is available on the OpenStrategy website2. This pilot has shown that sustainable procurement is extremely wide-ranging with implications and impacts of good and bad practice being experienced in many different areas of society. The benefits of sustainable procurement practice to wider society relate strongly to: economic development, more efficient resource use, improved health, reduced poverty and better environmental quality. The activities in which mainly public sector stakeholders are currently engaged include, broadly speaking, the development of guidance, provision of information and addressing skills needs. Using the OS system has demonstrated that the public authorities tend to be almost exclusively involved in running projects that produce results. The vital next step – the application of the results – is carried out by the suppliers which, in turn, generate benefits to wider society. This shows that, if the government and public authorities are serious about supporting and promoting good practice as widely as possible, their attentions should include creating and supporting markets for sustainably produced goods and services, and in building capacity within the private sector to deliver this. Forum’s independent evaluation of the OpenStrategies system points out that resource constraints around stakeholder capacity, availability and authority are issues remaining must be resolved to ensure success. Certain aspects of the OS system have not been used to their fullest extent. Forum concludes that this shows that careful consideration must be given to resource availability and endorsement for the technique to give the support required to ensure an OS approach to a strategic planning situation will succeed. The stakeholders of this pilot OpenStategy agreed that there is a recognisable need for strategic direction to address procurement practice in the North West and that OpenStrategy is the mechanism by which it can be delivered. The findings of Forum’s independent evaluation and stakeholder experience has shown the that most important issues that must be in place for success are that: (1) sufficient time and resources are available for training facilitators and stakeholders; and (2) senior level (chief executive officer) staff members give endorsement to both the need for a Sustainable Procurement strategy for the North West, 1 Forum for the Future (June 2006) An evaluation of OpenStrategy®: the Sustainable Procurement North West Pilot. Forum for the Future, Cheltenham. URL: http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/publications/openstrategy_page408.aspx 2 http://openstrategies.co.uk/ Pilot OpenStrategy® for Sustainable Procurement in the North West - Final Report. Page 1 agreement that the OpenStrategy is the mechanism by which it should be delivered, and that they engage actively in delivery by means of the technique. Officers of the NWRA are now working on engaging senior level officers to gain support and agreement about what is required and possible. This will ensure that what emerges in the next stage, as a result of this pilot exercise, is both sufficiently resourced, realistic, and supported by strong leadership. Pilot OpenStrategy® for Sustainable Procurement in the North West - Final Report. Page 2 Table of contents Executive Summary........................................................................................................................................... 1 Table of contents ............................................................................................................................................... 3 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 4 2 Background................................................................................................................................................ 4 3 Pilot aims and objectives........................................................................................................................... 4 4 What is OpenStrategy® and how does it work?........................................................................................ 5 4.1 The Information Structure ................................................................................................................. 5 4.2 The Prioritisation System .................................................................................................................. 6 4.3 Support Systems ................................................................................................................................7 5 North West Stakeholder involvement........................................................................................................ 7 6 Summary of process .................................................................................................................................. 7 7 Survey of goods and services suppliers..................................................................................................... 8 8 Key Findings ............................................................................................................................................. 9 8.1 Existing NW projects and activities ................................................................................................ 10 Development of Codes/Guidelines/Policies ............................................................................................ 10 Promotion and marketing ........................................................................................................................ 10 Research and sharing best practice.......................................................................................................... 10 Training, capacity building and supply chain support............................................................................. 11 8.2 Benefits identified ........................................................................................................................... 11 THEME 1: Health and Poverty ............................................................................................................... 11 THEME 2: Economic Development........................................................................................................ 11 THEME 3: Resource Use ........................................................................................................................ 12 THEME 4: Environmental quality .......................................................................................................... 12 THEME 5: Better governance ................................................................................................................. 12 9 Conclusions and the Future ..................................................................................................................... 12 9.1 Sustainable procurement practice in the NW .................................................................................. 13 9.2 OpenStrategy as a method for implementing strategic planning sustainable procurement............. 13 9.3 Towards the development of a NW Sustainable Procurement Strategy.......................................... 14 9.4 Concluding remarks and the wider context ....................................................................................