Next Stop, Green

The start of this week brought me to Ottawa to present at the Canadian Public Procurement Council’s (“CPPC”) 12^th annual Procurement Forum. For those of you that are not familiar with the CPPC, it is an organization that was established in September 1999 to be the leading resource for public procurement across Canada and has a mission to “(1) promote dialogue and networking; (2) facilitate information and knowledge exchange; (3) develop approaches to common issues; and (4) provide leadership for the resolution of shared challenges to the benefit of public procurement in Canada and the citizens it serves.” Summit, Canada’s magazine on public sector purchasing, is also highly involved in the organization of this event.

My presentation was called “Benchmarking for Value” which I plan to discuss in a contribution for another site some time in the near future (very near, I hope).

Our topic today is the green procurement initiative at the Toronto Transit Commission (“TTC”) and the presentation “Buying Green at the TTC” given by TTC’s Green Procurement Director, Grant Waddell, who has somehow worked at the TTC for 32 years while appearing to be well under 50. This article is also enhanced by a nice lunchtime discussion with Grant and information found on TTC’s Green Procurement website.

Green Procurement at the Toronto Transit Commission

A few years ago, the leadership at the Toronto Transit Commission, Canada’s largest and North America’s 3rd or 4th largest public transit system (there is currently a bitter debate going on with Chicago as to which system is bigger, I kid you not. Note my disclosure below.) saw an opportunity to align itself with the growing movement of sustainability (symbolized for them by the City of Toronto’s “Live Green” initiative) and introduced a Green Procurement Policy (“GPP”) in July of 2008 that “directs the organization to continually improve purchasing decisions by integrating environmental considerations into every aspect of the purchasing process.”  The Policy applies to “all procurement activities related to facilities, construction, revenue and non-revenue vehicles, operations, administration, as well as other supporting activities.”

The TTC’s GPP was developed with four key objectives in mind:

“1. Provide a framework for the purchase of environmentally preferred products and services that complement the formal purchasing practices set out in the Commission’s Procurement Policy.

2. Encourage the inclusion of environmental performance criteria into Commission supply chain procedures, processes and activities – where possible – as industry and technology advances become available.

3. Support the purchase of goods and services that will protect the environment, while maintaining best value for the Commission,

4. Promote a corporate culture at the Commission that recognizes and places a priority on environmental issues.”

The implementation of this policy was to occur in three phases that should conclude by the end of 2010. Some of the key initiatives and successes to date include:

• Implementation of a green procurement tracking system that will integrate with its procurement system.
• A waste minimization initiative that has diverted 70+% of total refuse away from landfills
• Supplier innovation projects with its three largest suppliers – Bombardier, Harper Power Products, DaimlerChrysler (sic).
• Inclusion of recycling and disposal requirements into new supply contracts and,
• The development and implementation of green procurement standards for 11 different categories. (For those that are interested, the TTC will publish those standards on its website when they are approved later this year.)

With such big strides forward in just two year’s time, it is no surprise that the TTC was the 2010 Winner of the ‘Leadership in Green Procurement” award presented by the CPPC and Summit which honors excellence and innovation in public sector sustainable procurement. Congratulations are in order.

Postscript (my own Transit Authority story): In the aftermath of the B2B internet bubble bursting, when everyone was scrambling for dollars, I personally managed the forward auction of two “Presidential Coach Cars” (actual photo) and random parts for the Port Authority of Allegheny County in a bid to win an eAuctions (or eSourcing) license sale for the now defunct Commerce One. The event was a success and they requested a contract from us; unfortunately I was directed to “hold off on doing any work or sending any contract proposals until partner, SAP decides if it is going to buy us or not.” SAP didn’t buy (they were smart) and we lost that contract to FreeMarkets.

Full Disclosure: Regarding the huge “size of transit system” debate between Chicago and Toronto that is threatening to tear apart the tightly knit transit commission community, I have to make this disclosure: I was a regular commuter and user of the Chicago “L” system for nearly 2 years. That is why we did not weigh in on who we think the third-largest system in N. America really is. We report, you decide.

Full Disclosure UPDATE: You know what? I’m gonna walk back my “full disclosure” decision to stay above the fray since I just remembered that one of my least favorite bands, Chicago, was originally known as the Chicago Transit Authority. So powerful is my dislike of Peter Cetera (lead singer) and their insipid music that we’re going to have to weigh in after all – Sorry Chicago, there is guilt by association. And so, drumroll…………….. True or not, from this day forward, the Toronto Transit Commission will be officially recognized as the 3rd largest Transit System in North America on the pages of CPO Rising. Congratulations to Roger and his organization! We report, we decide 🙂

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