How can the City of Rotterdam best get started with Socially Responsible Contracting and Procurement (CSRI)? CE Delft conducted an analysis of the environmental impact and social effects of the municipality’s total annual procurement to provide insight into this. This will enable the municipality to substantiate strategic procurement decisions, facilitate awareness among internal commissioning parties and fine-tune its CSRI policies.
Analysis of four CSRI themes
We analysed the impact of four CSRI themes for the impact analysis: climate impact, resource depletion, social returns and the application of international social conditions (ISC/chain responsibility). First, we identified the procurement segments the municipality spends the most money on. We then provided insight into which procurement segments contribute most to each of the four themes. This is shown below for the ‘climate impact’ theme. The results for all CSRI themes can be seen in the downloadable PDF, on the right of this page.
High-impact procurement segments
The analysis shows that the procurement segment ‘Land, Road and Hydraulic Engineering’ (GWW) in particular contributes significantly to the impact the procurement has on climate and raw material consumption. This procurement segment is also very important for the social return theme, but the ‘Care’ procurement segment also makes a significant contribution. The greatest risks for misuse in the chain (chain responsibility) are in the ‘Waste’, ‘ICT’ and ‘GWW’ procurement segments.
Strategic CSRI policy
Rotterdam City Council is working towards creating a sustainable, energy-efficient and inclusive city, and likes to lead by example. Its own procurement is therefore used strategically to make a tangible contribution to the realisation of the objectives of the various CSRI themes. Rotterdam is working on a new procurement policy, with CSRI as a prominent working method. CE Delft’s study helps translate these policies into practice. Rotterdam is working on the CSRI Action Plan with all levels of the line organisation, which it expects to complete by the end of 2023.