ISO 20400 Lead Manager flashcards

36 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Sustainable procurement definition

Procurement that delivers the most positive environmental, social and economic impacts possible across the whole life cycle, within the organization's means, as defined in ISO 20400.

Triple bottom line

The combined assessment of environmental, social and economic impacts of a purchasing decision, all three of which must be considered together under ISO 20400.

Life-cycle perspective

Assessing impacts from raw material extraction through production, use, and end-of-life disposal or recovery, rather than only at the moment of purchase.

ISO 26000 core subjects

Organizational governance, human rights, labour practices, the environment, fair operating practices, consumer issues, and community involvement and development; these underpin sustainable procurement considerations.

Due diligence

The process of identifying, preventing, mitigating and accounting for adverse sustainability impacts in the supply chain, proportionate to the likelihood and severity of those impacts.

Impact severity

Judged by scale, scope and remediability of the harm; severity assessment takes precedence over spend-based prioritization for human rights impacts.

Sphere of influence

The extent to which an organization can affect the decisions and activities of others, including suppliers, used to decide where sustainability action is feasible.

Sustainable procurement policy

A top-management-approved statement of the organization's sustainability commitments, supplier expectations and scope, forming the basis for procurement objectives and procedures.

Policy integration sequence

Top-management commitment, then policy, then measurable objectives, then procedures, then performance indicators; each step depends on the previous one being in place.

Materiality-based prioritization

Ranking procurement categories by sustainability risk and organizational leverage so that objectives and resources focus on the most significant impacts.

Cross-functional ownership

Sustainable procurement requires joint responsibility across procurement, sustainability, legal, finance and operational users, not the procurement function alone.

Supplier code of conduct

A document setting out the sustainability, labour, human rights and environmental expectations the organization requires its suppliers to meet and to cascade to their own suppliers.

Measurable objectives

Specific, quantified targets such as percentage of spend assessed for sustainability risk or emissions reduction, allowing progress to be tracked against a baseline.

ISO 20400 clause structure

Section 4 fundamentals, Section 5 policy and strategy, Section 6 organization, Section 7 process; organization covers governance, people and stakeholder engagement.

Governance roles

Clearly assigned responsibilities and accountabilities, with top management providing leadership and a named owner responsible for the sustainable procurement programme.

Competence requirements

Procurement staff need sustainability knowledge and sustainability staff need procurement knowledge, supported by training, tools and awareness activities.

Stakeholder engagement

Identifying internal and external interested parties such as suppliers, workers, NGOs, communities and regulators, and defining mechanisms for dialogue with them.

Buyer incentives

Performance objectives and rewards for procurement staff that recognize sustainable outcomes, preventing cost savings from being the sole measure of success.

Documented information

Maintained policies, procedures, risk assessments, supplier records and monitoring results that support consistency, traceability and management review.

Plan-do-check-act

The improvement cycle applied to sustainable procurement: set objectives, implement, monitor results, and take corrective action before repeating the cycle.

Activity versus outcome indicators

Activity indicators measure actions taken, such as percentage of contracts with sustainability clauses; outcome indicators measure results, such as measured emissions or incident rates.

SMART indicators

Performance indicators that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound, enabling objective evaluation of sustainable procurement progress.

Baseline data

Measurements taken before targets are set, allowing quantitative demonstration of improvement over time and comparison across reporting periods.

Supplier monitoring methods

Audits, questionnaires, site visits and third-party certification used to verify supplier sustainability performance, selected in proportion to the assessed risk.

Corrective action escalation

A defined response to non-conformity, ranging from supplier improvement plans through contractual remedies to termination, proportionate to severity and persistence.

Needs definition stage

The earliest procurement step where sustainability requirements should be set, because later stages have limited ability to change environmental and social outcomes.

Whole-life costing

Evaluation of acquisition, operating, maintenance, disposal and relevant externality costs over the life of the purchase, rather than purchase price alone.

Proportionate requirements

Sustainability criteria that are relevant to the subject matter of the contract, verifiable, and not discriminatory under applicable procurement law and trade rules.

Category risk assessment

Analysis identifying which environmental and social issues are material for a given spend category, driving the requirements and evaluation criteria applied.

Award criteria linkage

Sustainability criteria must relate to the subject matter of the contract and be disclosed with their weighting, so scoring is transparent and legally defensible.

Supplier self-assessment questionnaire

A structured questionnaire on sustainability policies and performance whose answers must be verified through evidence, certificates, audits or references before reliance.

Supplier development

An agreed improvement plan with a strategically important supplier that falls short of requirements, used as an alternative to exclusion from the tender.

Enforceable contract terms

Contractual obligations translating sustainability requirements into measurable performance duties, reporting obligations and remedies for non-compliance, monitored during contract execution.

Sub-tier transparency

Requiring suppliers to disclose subcontractors and key sub-suppliers where sustainability risk is material, extending due diligence beyond the first tier of the supply chain.

Grievance mechanism

An accessible and safe channel through which workers and affected communities can raise sustainability concerns without fear of retaliation, supporting remediation.

Contract lessons learned

Findings from monitoring and close-out that feed back into risk assessment, specification and supplier selection for subsequent procurements, closing the improvement loop.