RFP’s Advancing UCSB Sustainability
A successful avenue for furthering UCSB's sustainability initiatives is through the bidding process. By working with departments and suppliers to understand the elements of an upcoming bid that might have environmental or social impacts, procurement can incorporate appropriate sustainability criteria and specifications into RFPs and contracts that support our goals including carbon neutrality, zero waste, food security, and water reduction.
In 2018, the UC made it a requirement to allocate at least 15% of the total evaluation criteria for all competitive bids over $100K to be dedicated to sustainability factors. Below are examples of agreements that have resulted in successfully furthering sustainability at UCSB. View more information on these bids
In 2016, recognizing the essential roll pollinators play in the production of food crops, Procurement collaborated with Facilities and Residential Services to develop a module within the Pest Management RFP that ensures sustainable bee capturing in lieu of extermination.
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In 2015, Procurement developed an RFP that resulted in a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) engaging a third party vendor to build a multi-site solar power collector, sell power back to UCSB at a pre-negotiated rate structure for a duration of 20 years, and have the option to buy the system.
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Summary: Established a solid waste disposal agreement with Marborg that provides $48,000 in direct support to UCSB FM for the purposes of hiring two student interns to learn and apply smart waste disposal and “next generation” sustainability practices
Summary: Established a new agreement for Student Housing, which swaps out all existing old appliances for new Energy Star and water saving washers and dryers. This agreement also removes the need for issuing campus laundry cards, and uses Debit/Credit cards instead at each machine.
Established pouring rights agreement with Pepsi that provides $25,000 in support to UCSB Purchasing for Sustainable initiatives
Summary: By rebidding the Produce commodity, UCSB not only received lower total fixed costs, but we also awarded to a local small business. This effort supported the UCSB Sustainability policy related to food operations.