ARCHIVED - Canadian Institutes of Health Research - Supplementary Tables

Has the department incorporated environmental performance considerations in its procurement decision-making processes?

Yes

Summary of initiatives to incorporate environmental performance considerations in procurement decision-making processes:

In 2009-2010, all procurement personnel completed the online course on Green Procurement (C215) offered by the Canada School of Public Service.

Green procurement commitments are included in the yearly performance evaluations of the Manager, Procurement and the Chief Information Officer.

CIHR continues to place importance on incorporating green elements into procurement requirements where feasible.  This is emphasized during CIHR’s ongoing procurement training sessions provided regularly to managers and their staff involved in the procurement process. In addition, to increase employee awareness, CIHR has developed and posted its Green Procurement Plan on its intranet site.

CIHR is also actively engaged in promoting the use of duplex printing to decrease paper consumption.  Where feasible, the agency procures green products against PWGSC green standing offers.  At present, all photocopying equipment in the business centers are configured to duplex print. 

In 2009-2010, CIHR’s automated procurement system was configured to track green procurement of goods and services for monitoring and reporting.

Results achieved:

All of CIHR’s business centres printing equipment has been configured to duplex printing thereby reducing paper usage.

All paper and printing services were green in 2009-2010. In addition, CIHR awarded multiple contracts for green office furniture and computer equipment totaling $615K.

Ongoing procurement training provided procurement personnel and departmental staff with the knowledge and awareness to apply green procurement considerations in their work and upcoming procurements. It is anticipated that this knowledge will increase the procurement of green products.

The automated procurement system has facilitated the tracking of green procurement in terms of commodity types and their associated dollar value.

Contributions to facilitate government-wide implementation of green procurement:

CIHR is a member of the PWGSC Green Procurement Forum since 2009 where ideas and suggestions are presented to increase awareness of Green Procurement, tools and best practices.

Has the department established green procurement targets?

Yes

Summary of green procurement targets:

Reduce and Reuse: Look for opportunities to reduce consumption or reuse surplus assets.

Use of Green Standing Offers: Where feasible, use existing PWGSC standing offers for the procurement of IT Hardware, Printers, Furniture, Toner Cartridges, Vehicles, Paper, etc, to efficiently buy "green".

Printing: To reduce paper usage, contractors are required to submit all documentation electronically, unless advised otherwise. Where hard copies of documentation is required CIHR will develop and incorporate a clause to be included in services contracts, requesting that contractors produce the copies using paper originating from a sustainable managed forest and/or paper that has a minimum of 30% post-consumer recycled content.

Travel: CIHR will develop and incorporate specific clauses into services contracts where travel is a condition of contract to promote the use of green hotels, etc.

Billing and communication and documentation practices: CIHR will explore the possibility of requesting suppliers to send their invoices, bids, and other correspondence electronically. This will reduce paper consumption.

Packaging: CIHR will explore ways of incorporating elements in goods contracts as it relates to packaging. The best approach to include this requirement in goods contracts where the goods are not available through green standing offers. This will be discussed with PWGSC and if feasible and where applicable, clauses will be included in contracts.

Training: CIHR provides ongoing procurement training to managers and their staff involved in the procurement process where green procurement forms an integral part of the training program. In 2010-2011, all acquisition cardholders will be required to attend alternative in-house green procurement
training.

Results achieved:

All of CIHR’s business centres’ printing equipment has been configured to duplex printing, thereby reducing paper usage. All paper and printing services were green in 2009-2010. For example, printer toner was recycled. New printers with the capacity to scan e-mails were purchased which greatly reduced CIHR’s reliance on paper for retaining copies.
CIHR sourced a new local supplier for stationary replacing the one from outside of Ottawa and reducing transportation impact. It also replaced Tyvek envelopes with equivalent envelopes made from recycled fibre.

Increased use of government green standing offers resulted in cost savings and contribution to the overall commitment of greening government operations.

In addition, CIHR awarded multiple contracts for green office furniture and computer equipment totaling $615K.

CIHR’s computer evergreening strategy was modified to reduce the frequency of purchase of computers and laptops by extending their use by an additional year before replacement, assuming no performance or technical issues with the device. CIHR donates an average of 75 computers annually to the Computers for Schools Program.

CIHR has a recycled battery program.  In addition, CIHR partnered with a local school to donate our recycled batteries for the school’s fundraising Battery Drive in May 2009. The batteries were shipped to a recycling facility in Ontario, where 100% of the materials are recycled for use in new products.

CIHR has also increased its use of Virtual Servers by 16.  This technology allowed CIHR to reduce its need for physical servers by 40. Overall, CIHR saved the purchase of 30-40% of server hardware, which also reduced the amount of electricity used to run the hardware.