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Sustainable Development

CPD and the Centres of Procurement Expertise (CoPEs) have a key role to play in the drive towards sustainable development by assisting the Northern Ireland Public Sector to embed sustainable development considerations into its spending and investment decisions.

The Programme for Government 2011-2015

The Programme for Government 2011 - 2015 and Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland 2008-2018 reinforce the importance of achieving sustainable outcomes. They also provide the high-level context in which contracting authorities can identify specific sustainable goals to achieve from each procurement.

The Programme for Government 2011 - 2015 can be downloaded from the Programme for Government and Budget Website

The Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland 2008-2018 can be downloaded from the Strategic Investment Board (SIB) Website

Everyone's Involved - Sustainable Development Strategy

The Northern Ireland Executive launched its new Sustainable Development Strategy, “Everyone's Involved", on 27 May 2010. This strategy has been designed to provide a framework that can support and inform the decisions and actions taken by individuals, groups and organisations in progressing the sustainability agenda.

For further information and to download Everyone's Involved please go to the OFMDFM Website

Equality of Opportunity and Sustainable Development in Public Sector Procurement

This guidance - aimed at policy makers and procurement professionals - demonstrates how to integrate equality and sustainable development considerations into the procurement process while meeting the existing statutory duties in relation to equality of opportunity and sustainable development.

The main guidance, supported by a summary document, gives an overview of the main points for consideration and is accompanied by a Dear Accounting Officer (DAO 05/08) letter which advises recipients that the guidance should be taken into account when preparing business cases.

Buying Social - A Guide to Taking Account of Social Considerations in Public Procurement

Public procurement accounts for about 17% of EU gross domestic product. Its leverage in areas such as social policy is thus considerable. With its Guide to Taking Account of Social Considerations in Public Procurement, the European Commission aims to capitalise on this by (a) raising contracting authorities' awareness on the benefits of opting for goods and services delivering good social outcomes and (b) explaining the opportunities offered by the existing EU legal framework to take into account social considerations in public procurement.

To download a copy of Buying Social please go to the European Commission's website.

Sustainable Construction in Procurement

The Sustainable Construction section of our website provides advice and guidance related to the practical implementation of the Sustainability Action Plan (2012-2015). The guidance is also concerned with the practical implementation of Achieving Excellence in Construction Procurement Guide 11.

Procurement Guidance Notes

Further guidance and links to other useful websites:

CPD is not responsible for the content of any external internet site.