Procurement of products and services at TNO

Legislation and regulations

When procuring goods, services or works, TNO takes into account the requirements encoded in European and national laws and regulations on procurement for public-law organisations. TNO pursues a healthy balance between legitimacy and efficiency. The Public Procurement Act and the Proportionality Guide are leading.

Innovation

Within Procurement, innovation is an important development area for the coming years. Procurement strives to continuously improve and innovate methods and processes, both internally and externally. For example, by purposefully searching for innovative solutions or by providing opportunities for market parties to develop and/or offer an innovative solution during procurement and tendering processes. But also, by introducing innovations in the procurement process.

Socially Responsible Procurement (SRP)

Sustainable procurement makes a significant contribution to the CSR policy whereby, when purchasing products and services, account is taken of the long-term social consequences of these purchases in terms of:

• Environmental aspects (planet)
• Social aspects (people)
• Economic aspects (profit)

The CSR themes and key points mentioned above are structurally and integrally taken into account and translated into sustainable criteria during procurement decisions. In the transition to sustainable business practices, TNO's priority focal points are integrity, energy and sustainability, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and working conditions. In this way, SRP significantly contributes to TNO's CSR policy by structurally embedding sustainable criteria in our procurement processes.

SRP is therefore a direct derivative of TNO's CSR policy, taking into account the societal impact of our procurement of products and services. Every procurement process involving our Procurement department is tested against the above CSR themes with the aim of achieving an optimal impact for TNO. CSR will be included in all stages of a procurement process:

• The preparation and market exploration phase
• The specification phase (sustainability requirements and wishes)
• The evaluating, awarding, and contracting phase.
• The aftercare phase (including measuring sustainability targets and their achievement).

To achieve SRP, the Procurement department has a team of specialists, the SRP Team. This team is charged with making sure that the Procurement department is aware of the latest trends and developments, and able to identify new opportunities. The SRP Team does this by bringing outside knowledge into TNO and disseminating it within the organisation. In addition to their knowledge of SRP, the SRP Team also specialises in TNO's CSR themes.

In addition, the Procurement department's purchasers and category managers ensure that knowledge regarding SRP is gained throughout the various stages of the procurement process, by conducting market research, for example.

Procurement is responsible for the implementation of the Supplier Code of Conduct (a set of guidelines and standards regarding CSR that TNO imposes on its suppliers).

As of 2023, the Procurement Department is using the Ambitionweb tool. Ambitionweb is a tool for conducting a risk analysis related to sustainability, and mapping the sustainability impact and desired objectives when procuring a product, service or work.

SRP requires interdepartmental collaboration (engagement) between multidisciplinary teams.

Why?

It contributes to:

• ...countering climate change
• ...promoting a circular economy
• ...countering environmental pollution and food waste
• ...encouraging a diverse and inclusive business community
• ...encouraging the participation of people distant from the labour market (social return)
• ...encouraging supply-chain responsibility towards both suppliers and clients.

Conditions

The drafting of purchase orders and agreements is based on TNO’s General Purchasing Terms and Conditions (AIV TNO), which have been filed with the Registry of the District Court of The Hague and the Chamber of Commerce of The Hague. In addition to a number of general terms and conditions, the AIV TNO describes specific terms and conditions for the supply of goods and software, the provision of services, the outsourcing of work and (sub-)contracting, and the provision of labour.

Code of Conduct

The TNO Code describes how TNO expects its employees to treat each other and the outside world. The focus is on the core values of the organisation, dealing with legislation and regulations, science and research, doing business, ethics & society, and people & organisation, among others. The Code describes how it is brought to the attention of TNO employees and how the integrity organisation functions. TNO employees are expected to be familiar with the aspects of the Code relevant to them.

Contact

Letters, applications, and complaints should be addressed in writing to:
TNO
Attn: Corporate Procurement department
P.O. Box 96800
NL-2509 JE The Hague

For questions, specific requests, and comments regarding TNO procurement-related matters, please contact the Procurement department, in addition to writing, by calling 088 86 60555 or sending an e-mail to [email protected].