Sustainability and Community Benefits

Community Benefits

We are committed to contributing to the social, economic and environmental well-being of the wider community and Procurement is a key driver for assisting us in achieving our sustainable commitments. With this aim in mind we are committed to asking tenderers to deliver Community Benefits in our tendering activities through the delivery of the contracts or frameworks awarded. These benefits might include recruiting and training long term economically inactive persons as part of the workforce delivering the contract; working with local schools and colleges for work placements; offering appropriate training through apprenticeships or engage with local communities etc.

A Community Benefits approach must be applied to all appropriate tenders. In any tender valued over £1million we must, as a minimum, apply, capture and record Community Benefits utilising the Welsh Government’s Community Benefits Measurement Tool.

Sustainability

In order to embed sustainability at a practical and operational level, a Sustainable Risk Assessment (SRA) needs to be carried out. The assessment is intended to ensure that environmental, social and economic issues are assessed, understood and managed in all key procurement decisions. This helps us to identify and capture sustainable gains across our contracting activity. We are able to consider how sustainability issues can be addressed and incorporated in the specification drafting and tender stage of the procurement process.
By carefully considering various sustainable aspects, relevant to individual contracts we aim to “influence” the specification by adopting minimum requirements and pushing the boundaries where possible.

Equalities

The Equality Act 2010 places a responsibility on ourselves to consider equality when procuring goods, works or services. In Wales we have a duty to consider equality in relation to all relevant agreements. For some procurement exercises you will be required to complete an Equality Impact Assessment.

Welsh Language

The Welsh Language Standards Regulations 2015 have been created in order to give Welsh-speakers improved, enforceable rights in relation to the Welsh language.

Standard 77: When you publish invitations to tender for a contract, you must state in the invitation that tenders may be submitted in Welsh, and that a tender submitted in Welsh will be treated no less favourably than a tender submitted in English.

Standard 77A: You must not treat a tender for a contract submitted in Welsh less favourably than a tender submitted in English (including, amongst other matters, in relation to the closing date for receiving tenders, and in relation to the time-scale for informing tenderers of decisions).

Standard 79: If you receive a tender in Welsh and it is necessary to interview the tenderer as part of your assessment of the tender you must - (a) offer to provide a translation service from Welsh to English to enable the tenderer to use the Welsh language at the interview, and (b) if the tenderer wishes to use the Welsh language at the interview, provide a simultaneous translation service for that purpose (unless you conduct the interview in Welsh without a translation service).

Standard 80: When you inform a tenderer of your decision in relation to a tender, you must do so in Welsh if the tender was submitted in Welsh.

Data Protection

Data Protection must be considered for each tender exercise where access to public information will be shared.