Local Government Procurement (LGP) has partnered with Source-to-Contract technology provider OneAdvanced to help New South Wales councils identify verified circular economy suppliers and make better-informed procurement decisions.

The initiative is being led by LGP’s Strategic Procurement Solutions (SPS) team, which oversees the organisation’s environmental, social and governance programs.

The first phase of the ESG assessment program has now been completed, evaluating suppliers’ circular economy capabilities and incorporating the results into procurement and contract management processes.

The program was developed to support all 128 NSW councils, giving procurement teams clearer information about suppliers offering circular economy products, services and solutions.

LGP has worked with OneAdvanced since 2013 to digitise and centralise its supplier and contract management operations. The new assessment capability replaces a fragmented, manual survey process with an integrated digital system.

LGP said the project would help councils pursue sustainability targets while reducing the time and administration involved in assessing and verifying suppliers.

Dr Hadi Vandchali, Consultant, ESG and Procurement Services at LGP, said local government organisations are under increasing pressure to embed ESG principles into procurement decisions, particularly around waste reduction, reuse, recycling and circular economy outcomes.

“Councils increasingly want to integrate circular economy principles into procurement, but one of the biggest challenges has been identifying suppliers that genuinely offer verified circular solutions,” said Dr Vandchali.

“Through this partnership with OneAdvanced, we have transformed a manual sustainability assessment into a strategic, data-driven capability that helps councils make more informed procurement decisions.

“Importantly, we are not just identifying a challenge facing the sector. We are actively creating a solution that helps address it,” said Dr Vandchali.

More than 1,000 suppliers across LGP’s contract panels were invited to complete the assessment, with more than 600 responding by the deadline. Participation was approximately double that recorded under previous assessment processes.

Suppliers were required to provide evidence supporting their sustainability claims, including relevant certifications and documentation. LGP then validated the information before awarding circular economy recognition tags within its supplier network.

Verified suppliers receive searchable tags in the procurement system, allowing councils to quickly identify businesses capable of supporting their sustainability and broader ESG objectives.

Abhijith Suresh, Sustainable Procurement Analyst at LGP says the new approach has significantly improved data quality, reporting capabilities and supplier engagement.

“Previously, supplier responses were captured separately from supplier records, creating a time-consuming process involving manual data consolidation, validation and reporting.” said Suresh,

“By bringing everything into a single source of truth, we have moved from a reactive process to a proactive capability.”

“We can now analyse supplier performance, sustainability credentials and supporting evidence from one location and generate insights far more efficiently.” he said.

The integrated system also allows LGP teams to access supplier sustainability data alongside procurement, performance and contract information. It provides a more complete view of each supplier and supports stronger decisions across procurement and supplier relationship management.

Abhijit Roy, IT Business Analyst at OneAdvanced says the organisation worked closely with LGP to adapt existing assessment capabilities within the Source to Contract platform to support the circular economy initiative.

“By leveraging the rich supplier and contract data already held within the platform, we were able to build an integrated assessment and reporting framework that gives LGP and councils far greater visibility into supplier sustainability capabilities,” said Roy,

“The ability to combine supplier assessments, supporting evidence and dashboard reporting within a single environment has created a scalable foundation that can support future ESG initiatives,” he said.

The circular economy assessment will serve as a model for the next phase of the LGP and OneAdvanced partnership. Planned areas of expansion include social procurement, Indigenous supplier engagement, modern slavery risk, carbon emissions and broader sustainability reporting.

Dr Vandchali said, “the focus should not simply be on digitising an existing process. The real value comes from integrating ESG requirements into procurement, contract management and reporting so organisations can generate meaningful insights and ongoing value for councils and their citizens.”

Adam Bowles, Country Director for Australia for OneAdvanced, says the partnership with LGP demonstrates the value of integrating sustainability objectives directly into procurement processes rather than treating ESG reporting as a standalone activity.

“As local councils face increasing expectations around sustainability reporting and supplier governance, providing structured, scalable and evidence-based supplier assessment capabilities will become increasingly important.” Bowles said.

The initiative gives NSW councils a clearer and more reliable way to factor sustainability into purchasing decisions, with planned expansions covering broader environmental and social considerations.

Its reach is strengthened by LGP’s status as a prescribed entity under section 55 of the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), which allows councils to use LGP contracts above the statutory tendering threshold without running a separate tender process, reducing costs, delays and administrative work.