We are a pioneer in responsible procurement

Hansel has developed a tool for assessing the responsibility of the company’s joint procurement, a responsibility analysis, which was introduced at the end of 2019. The responsibility analysis is performed for all of Hansel’s joint procurement projects, and at the end of the process it is assessed whether to grant responsibility labels for the joint procurement. In connection to the responsibility analysis, necessary indicators are also devised for monitoring the agreement period. Two members of the responsibility group grant the responsibility labels together.

The aim of the responsibility analysis is to assist the category manager and the entire tendering team in considering areas of responsibility extensively in connection to the tendering. The analysis should make a stance in many matters whether they concern procurement and what is the negative impact or identified risk of procurement. The team must consider how to create a positive impact and what is the action required by Hansel to reduce a negative impact and achieve the positive target. The representatives of the responsibility group support this work.

A label symbolises the fulfilment of criteria

Seven possible points of view are introduced in the environmental section, such as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, energy effectiveness, reduction of the use of harmful substances, and a circular economy. The tendering group must identify the impacts relevant to joint procurement and fill in a form. If two significant ways to promote environmental matters are found in the procurement, it can receive the ecolabel. In the new process, the criteria for ecolabels became slightly stricter in comparison to the former ecolabel process. In the former model, it was relevant to identify at which point of the procurement the environmental matters had been addressed. However, the difference is not significant enough to require separate labels for the new and old processes.

For social responsibility’s part, the responsibility analysis reminds of the parts of social responsibility, such as adherence to labour and human rights, fulfilment of equality, and acknowledging accessibility. The social responsibility label can be granted when one matter has been acknowledged in the procurement. The label can be granted by adding the contractual suppliers’ Code of Conduct appendix as part of the agreement, for example.

The financial responsibility label is almost always granted, as a relevant part of public procurement is checking the background of the contractual suppliers. Hansel also monitors contractual suppliers during the agreement period on its own initiative.

On the other hand, innovativeness is rarely acknowledged, as Hansel’s activities include the tendering of regular products and services especially.

Responsibility is acknowledged extensively

In 2020, the responsibility analysis process was performed for 23 procurement projects (two projects in 2019), and many responsibility labels were granted. All procurement except for one were granted the label of financial responsibility, and nearly all received the ecolabel. Pleasingly, more and more procurement projects also received the social responsibility label. The innovativeness label was also granted to one procurement that was tendered already in 2015.

The responsibility analysis contains much procurement-specific responsibility information. In order for this information to reach the customer, we have created a separate responsibility tab to our online service. It is a written summary of the procurement’s responsibility. Information on the ecolabels granted earlier has also been added to the responsibility tab, if the information was easily available. Customers have given positive feedback on the responsibility tab’s content; many can adapt the information directly in their own reporting.

Responsibility group leads the work

A responsibility group performs the actual responsibility work at Hansel, which meets regularly to discuss responsibility matters. At the moment, the responsibility group has eight members from different sides of the organisation, and it is chaired by the director of finance who also answers for it in the Executive Committee.

At the end of November 2020, the responsibility group had a development day, during which they processed current topics and development work needs. Responsibility audits came up as one of the significant themes, which Hansel is yet to launch. The matter has already been studied, but its internal conceptualisation is still in progress. We have also discussed the matter with other public procurement units, and many others seem to be considering the same issue in Finland at the moment. Cooperation in this field might therefore be justified.

Responsibility labels granted in 2020

Joint procurement	Financial	Environmental	Social	Innovativeness
Solar power plants	1	1	1	–
Vehicle servicing*	1	1	–	–
Vehicles and related services*	1	1	1	–
Food	1	1	1	–
Design services for presentation technology	1	1	1	–
Procurement life cycle service	1	1	–	–
Train travel services	1	1	–	–
Waste management services	1	1	–	–
Distribution services for serial publications	–	1	1	–
Meeting and event facilities	1	1	1	–
Domestic accommodation	1	1	1	–
Consumption and professional electronics	1	–	1	–
Leasing services	1	1	–	–
Textbooks and related supplementary material	1	1	–	–
Fuel tank deliveries	1	–	–	–
Prepaid services	1	–	–	1
Cleaning supplies	1	1	–	–
Protective equipment	1	1	1	–
Electricity and portfolio management	1	1	–	–
Telecommunications services	1	–	–	–
Office and IT supplies	1	1	1	–
Office supplies	1	1	–	–
Security equipment	1	–	–	–
Total	22	18	10	1
*These joint procurement entities contain several different joint procurement projects, of which some might not have received the ecolabel, for example. If you are our customer and wish to know exactly, you can check it from Hansel’s online service under “Responsibility” (Vastuullisuus). This list mentions the label if it is in the majority of the procurement entity.

 

Responsibility labels for joint procurement

	2020				2019
	EUR M	%	pcs	%	EUR M	%	pcs	%
Reported joint procurement in total	916.0		228		899.7		233
Financial responsibility label granted	911.2	99	227	100	899.7	100	233	100
Ecolabel granted*	600.5	66	135	59	702.6	78	146	63
Social responsibility label granted	127.0	14	10	4	50.9	6	4	2
Innovativeness label granted	0.0	0	1	0	0.0	0	1	0
* Please note, the criteria for granting the ecolabel have been changed in October 2019, so the numbers are not fully comparable. Until October 2019, the label was granted if two different parts of the procurement considered environmental matters. As of October 2019, the ecolabel was granted if a positive environmental impact was achieved in at least two ways. The procurer must describe the action for how to reduce the negative impact and increase the positive impact. In practise, the change made it harder to receive the ecolabel than before.

Responsibility labels by category

Category	Joint procurement 2020, EUR M	Ecolabel, EUR M	Social responsibility label, EUR M	Financial responsibility label, EUR M	Ecolabel, %	Social responsibility label, %	Financial responsibility label, %
Vehicle and logistics services	102.5	82.8	0	102.5	81	0	100
Specialist services	143.5	68.8	0	143.5	48	0	100
Food and restaurant services	76.1	76.1	58.3	76.1	100	77	100
Energy	63.1	41.1	0	63.1	65	0	100
Personnel and healthcare services	73.4	0.2	0	73.4	0	0	100
IT hardware	89.8	76.2	50.4	89.8	85	56	100
Furniture and office services	60.2	59.7	18.2	55.5	99	30	92
Data centre services and hardware	61.0	61.0	0	61.0	100	0	100
Travel and meeting services	25.3	25.3	0	25.3	100	0	100
Software	62.1	0.9	0	62.1	1	0	100
Cleaning services and supplies	46.3	46.3	0	46.3	100	0	100
Financial services	56.9	39.9	0	56.9	70	0	100
Data communications	25.7	4.4	0	25.7	17	0	100
Security technology and security services	30.0	17.8	0	30.0	59	0	100
Total	916.0	600.5	127.0	911.2	66	14	99