Supplier Relationships
FirstGroup's commitment to social and environmental sustainability is presented in our Code of Business Ethics. This is supported by a Supplier Code of Conduct which sets out in detail the minimum requirements we expect from our suppliers. We expect our suppliers to familiarise themselves with both documents and demonstrate their ability to meet the standards, both directly and within their own supply chain.
Consideration of sustainability in the procurement process
Our procurement process endeavours to ensure that all our suppliers meet minimum standards of social and environmental performance and drive continuous performance improvements.
Prior to tendering all suppliers are required to complete a pre-assessment questionnaire which includes three sets of questions.
- Section 1: Demonstrates whether the supplier can meet our minimum ethical and environmental standards.
- Section 2: Rates the supplier's ethical and environmental performance in areas where they exceed minimum standards (e.g. the presence of environmental management systems, carbon targets etc).
- Section 3: Provides generic information relating to the supplier's products or services to determine their relative sustainability in terms of energy usage, recyclability etc.
For each supplier the questionnaire gives a sustainability score which can be used in the evaluation process. We work with suppliers to encourage them to improve their score as part of their contract. More detailed specific product or service questions may also be included as part of individual tenders.
Strategic supplier relationships
We have a Strategic Supplier Management programme in which we work consistently with our key suppliers to improve performance across all areas of business. We involved a number of these strategic suppliers in testing our revised pre-assessment questionnaire and are planning a future workshop on carbon management.