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You are correct in that we are seeing results with the EPR program here in BC particularly with things like packaging and paper, but we need to get away from contracts that award volume as they undermine some of these programs.
As everyone has commented, the contracts have to be designed with clear baselines, transparent data, and enforceable system of measurement, or vendors won’t be able to meet the specific goals or deliver real improvements.
You do a great job acknowledging both the ethical strengths and the practical limitations of Fair Trade, especially from a procurement perspective. The policies translate into real world behavior when you highlight how we need to move ethical sourcing from theory into everyday practice.
I think we can push further the idea of ‘trade-offs’ with higher costs and limited product range if the possibility of more Fair-Trade Towns increases the demand for products and thus increasing more producers. Unfortunately, with the way materials, wages, construction, etc. costs are rising in local government settings this may be a hard sell no matter what ethic or social impact it has.
Thanks for this information. Found the different funds and bonds to be especially interesting.
Shouldn’t be a novel concept that the taxpayer ‘Pay for Success’ but when the focus becomes on just getting the job done we lose sight on how to do the job better. Even if we are unable to shift over to a Commissioning model we can improve the outcome metrics by evolving our Rfx documents to ensure we are attracting the most qualified contractors.
The idea of introducing outcome-based commissioning in economic development programs, particularly in areas like business start-ups, would provide much needed support. Being in a small town it’s disheartening to see so many small businesses fail and seeing them have meaningful support and incentives can only improve the prosperity of your area. Would be interesting to see what model could be created that would strike a balance between ensuring the success of the new business and risk to the contractor.
I agree with the financial cost of being a Fair Trade Town, in our area we see a huge influx in population for part of the year, as we are a destination area, that may support the Fair Trade movement but I’m sure how the year-round population would accept what has already been the increasing costs as you mentioned. With such a varied population base it would be interesting to know what interest exists in the movement since there are others in our area and Province that are Fair Trade Towns.
You make a great case for ‘short term pain, for long term gain’ that while there are financial and political cost upfront the ethical impact to communities will outweigh that. Your personal experience in Peru gives further weight to your argument!
While we haven’t ventured into the world of Outcome based Commissioning, an area of interest that I would like to know what the benefits would be is Waste Management and Recycling as that is one of the largest budget items but seems to clearly fit within the outcome-based model.
While traditionally contracts are done on a per haul/tonne and management has been based on a monthly fee and tonnage received rate it would be interesting to see what service providers would deliver given clear outcomes for reducing refuse waste and increasing recycling while potentially providing some new incentives within the community that just aren’t focused on given the lack of capacity with local governments but by changing the model of our procurement we can achieve costs savings and improve our services.
The ultimate goal of Fair Trade is immeasurable in what it achieves with higher income for producers and improved labour standards as just a start but translating the social and economic benefits to our local government organization can be a harder sell.
As a procurement professional our job is to obtain ‘best value’ for our organization so selling the idea of Fair Trade when it will involve potential increased costs and reduced competition may involve some convincing regardless of the economic and social benefits. With the increase in budget constraints, it will cause a shift in thinking from buying what is the lowest to buying what is the most responsible and that will involve not just the organization to be on board but also your ultimate customer, which is the tax base.
I’m encouraged to see that two of the four larger cities in my Regional District are Fair Trade Towns, which may assist in starting the internal conversation about shifting the procurement practices build a better culture of sustainability and responsibility.
Good Morning,
I am Dona and I work as the Procurement Coordinator at the Columbia Shuswap Regional District in beautiful British Columbia.
I am one of two individuals in the Procurement Department and I deal with the whole procurement process in addition to other internal agreements such as leases while my co-worker deals with grants and contribution agreements. Thankfully we have an external organization that is posting the Rfx’s on our behalf as we currently lack the capacity for that part of the process as we recently underwent a restructure of the organization.
Have been is this current position less than two years so trying to develop skills as quickly as possible with the complex nature of public procurement.
Look forward to working with you all.
Dona
