Project Clearinghouse

Addressing Supplier Sustainability

Sustainability Problem and Proposed Solution: 

The overarching sustainability issue that is being addressed is that of supplier sustainability and accountability. The University of California (UC) public school system and its individual campuses have a significant amount of purchasing power given their large amount of spending in the local and global economy. By creating tools that will leverage suppliers to improve their overall sustainability, we are ultimately reducing the waste stream generated by our supply chains.

Jump to: Contact | Project Description | Metrics for Success | Results
Project Categories: 
Purchasing
Project Status: 
Completed
Campus Organization: 
Provost's Sustainability Internship Program
Affiliated Department, Unit or College: 
Procurement Services
Project Location: 
Both on and off campus

2300 Delaware Ave


Stakeholder Contacts: 
Contact NameEmail AddressDepartment
Kathleen Rogers
kmrogers@ucsc.edu
Procurement Services
Nancy Nieblas
nnieblas@ucsc.edu
Procurement Services

Project Description: 

The primary tools I have created are the Supplier Sustainability Scorecard (also known as “the matrix”) and the Sustainability Opportunity and Action Plan (SOAP). I had the opportunity to partner with the university's largest suppliers to benchmark their sustainability and create a list of action items outlining how they would improve on some of the shortfalls found in that benchmarking process. The scorecard was successful in benchmarking the select suppliers that were a part of the project, and the tool will continue to be used more widely to benchmark local and systemwide suppliers of the university. The SOAP document was successful in its completion, although the right incentive process needs to be developed further to gain better supplier participation. The 2015-2016 PSI intern will continue to benchmark suppliers using the tool that I created, and use the vetted SOAP document to outline supplier commitment once the right incentive structure is found.

Metrics for Success: 

Although the Supplier Sustainability Scorecard is a benchmarking tool used to measure supplier sustainability, the results of the benchmarking are difficult to quantify. Each of the suppliers that I worked with in this pilot project were already working on issues related to environmental sustainability. One aspect of the project that I have been able to measure is supplier participation. 55% of the suppliers actively participated throughout the entire project. 89% of suppliers have participated in at least one phase of the project since its inception in October 2014.
The next PSI intern will have an opportunity to quantify the results of the SOAP document and measure how the action items affected the supply chain of the company and the university. Although it would have been rewarding to be a part of the measuring process, the objective of my project was to create the tools that would allow the university to benchmark. The first phase of the project has been completed, and the 2015-2016 PSI intern will have the opportunity to further develop it.

Result Categories: 
Data Collection & Analysis
Results: 

The first phase of the project (i.e. the tool development) has been completed and was successful. Once all of UCSC's suppliers have been benchmarked and have used an agreement tool to improve their environmental sustainability and supply chain behavior, then the project has been completed.

Resources
AttachmentSize
PDF icon 2014-15 Supplier Sustainability Scorecard - Scorecard Matrix.pdf441.62 KB
PDF icon 2014-15 Procurement Final PSI Presentation_Marissa Meisterling.pdf3.46 MB
PDF icon 2014-15 Supplier Sustainability Commitment Document.pdf131.12 KB
PDF icon 2014-15 Procurement Final PSI Paper_Marissa Meisterling.pdf558.76 KB
Related Websites: 
Procurement Services Sustainability Intern Newsletter Feature