ECO-Buy to focus on social procurement at breakfast forum

Features expert panel of speakers

ECO-Buy is running a breakfast forum on 16 August to discuss the issues surrounding social procurement and hear from organisations that are leading the way.

Social procurement involves using procurement processes and purchasing power to generate positive social outcomes in addition to the efficient delivery of goods, services and works.

It is a growing area of focus for major companies as stakeholders demand increased social as well as environmental responsibility, but few understand how it works in practice.

Speakers at the forum include:

• Sarah Law from National Australia Bank – NAB applies their community focus to their supply chain and won the 2010 CIPSA Award for Socially Responsible Procurement. Sarah will speak about how they manage supplier diversity as part of their Supplier Sustainability Program.
• Amanda Minniti from Department of Planning and Community Development – DPCD recently developed a Social Procurement Toolkit to assist local governments in implementing their own programs. Amanda will speak about the tools available, case studies of the pilot project, and how the approach might be applied in a business context.
• Mark Daniels from Social Traders – Social Traders support the development of social enterprises in Australia and promote markets for their services. Mark will discuss the organisational benefits and social outcomes achieved through buying from social enterprises.

A panel discussion will follow the presentations and will feature two additional experts:

• Jacqueline Saultry from Places Victoria (formerly VicUrban), which included a ‘community benefit’ specification in their tender for a redevelopment project in Dandenong, and
• Chris Newman from PMMS, who was involved in developing the Social Procurement Toolkit while at DPCD and has since assisted a number of organisations to implement their own social procurement programs.

The forum will be held on 16 August 2012 from 8-10am at 60 Leicester St, Carlton VIC and includes a continental breakfast. Check the ECO-Buy website for more information and to register.