LUPC’s approach to supplier due diligence has been recognised as leading practice by independent third-party assessors, academics and professional institutes.
We are externally assessed every two years against the ISO20400 standard. Academics regularly cite our approach, most recently in “Intersecting sustainabilities: Protecting both people and planet in public sector supply chains” research funded by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (Modern Slavery PEC), also recognised by CIPS. We continue to collaborate with researchers, with a forthcoming case study to be published by Routledge in a chapter of “Teaching Public Procurement: Bridging Theory and Practice” written by Sofia Gonzalez De Aguinaga and Martina Trusgnach.
Our approach is agile, with continuous development a core value of our work in this area since 2017. We work in partnership with suppliers to support a “race to the top”, rather than adopting a compliance-driven burden of meeting minimum standards.
We aim to Inspire a Responsible Procurement (RP) movement among our suppliers and members, across consortia and the broader public sector in the UK and globally. We believe strongly in collaboration with external partners, who reach further into supply chains and provide specialised monitoring, grievance channels and worker-centred remedy, while we use our position to influence change and support supplier development.
RP HUB
Our RP Hub, aims to create the fullest picture of supplier progress in terms of a sustainable approach to business, with a special focus on areas of material impact to our Members. We are interested in what suppliers are doing within their organisations, their supply chains, and communities.
While RP questions are embedded into the tender process from the beginning, once Suppliers commit to compliance with the SUSTAIN Supply Chain Code of Conduct, they are expected to participate in ongoing due diligence exercises via the RP Hub.
We are currently in Phase 1 - Supplier Due Diligence with the tool being rolled out to LUPC’s suppliers to complete and submit our Due Diligence Questionnaire.
Our RP lead will then review the responses to the questionnaires, including an evaluation of Carbon Reduction Plans and Social Value commitments. Corrective Action Plans will be agreed with suppliers and form part of ongoing contract management.
Once we have gathered enough data, we will provide access to LUPC members, giving them the ability to view the RP status of the individual suppliers on Frameworks they use.
Phase 2 - Community Exchange will provide an opportunity for members and suppliers to matchmake on projects, such as social value or carbon reduction, looking to increase reach without duplicating effort, achieve economies of scale, or pilot untested innovations. It will enable suppliers and members to share case studies and demonstrate evidence of leading practice.
Finally, we will enter Phase 3 – Developing wider links with plans including an area to showcase LUPC RP-related partnerships, collaborations and affiliations, providing links with sustainability initiatives we support and encouraging members and suppliers to join.
We are ably supported with monitoring, grievance mechanisms and worker-centred remediation in global ICT supply chains via our affiliation with Electronicswatch and across sectors in the UK through our collaboration with Unseen.
