The Procurement Act 2023, which came into force February, is calling on businesses to jump through strict social and environmental hoops to secure lucrative government and public contracts.

That’s according to renewable energy specialist and managing director of CES, Joe Collison, who says businesses will need to clean up their act if they want to win their slice of the pie.

“The Procurement Act represents a big mindset change for both contractors and procurers alike, as base price is no longer the biggest priority,” said Joe.

“Businesses are going to have to make changes that increase energy efficiency, utilise more green energy, and reduce carbon footprint and costs.”

Contracting authorities like government departments and public bodies will be obliged to consider a whole range of variables before contracts are awarded.

The Act redefines value for money to include sustainability – offering the lowest price will no longer win the work if the business cannot demonstrate good environmental, economic, social and ethical practices.

Joe added: “It can seem really daunting at first, it’s a lot to think about while you’re also trying to keep your business running profitably, but by looking at your business from the outside in, identifying what needs to be done and working out what can practically and financially be done and when, it becomes a lot more manageable.”

Before bidding for a public contract, Joe urges businesses to:

• Develop robust sustainability policies which are properly documented and implemented
• Make sure everything the company does complies with the relevant environmental legislation
• Take steps to reduce environmentally damaging aspects of the business, such as waste and carbon footprint, and make sure the improvements are documented and provable
• Document and prove all social value contributions, such as fair pay, fair and local recruitment policies and contributions to the local economy, and include all those environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics into bids

The good thing though, says Joe, is that the benefits will be evident immediately.

“For example, a solar energy system will instantly cut energy bills. Add an EV charger to run off the energy created, and the fuel bill for your vehicle fleet instantly becomes much lower too.

“And as well as opening up opportunities to bid for public contracts, making these changes has the knock-on benefit of cutting costs and increasing a firm’s social capital in the eyes of customers and employees.

“At CES we’re here to help businesses make those changes that demonstrate commitment to renewable sustainable energy and reduced pollution and waste.

“Whether it’s heating for your buildings, energy to power your manufacturing processes or putting in energy management software to ensure the lights are turned off when you’re not there, we can advise on every step of the process, as well as helping you to audit and record the data to support your bid for public and government contracts.”

For more information visit www.poweredbyces.co.uk/ or email info@poweredbyCES.co.uk