NSW councils get tool to verify circular suppliers

Local Government Procurement and OneAdvanced have launched a supplier assessment tool for New South Wales councils to help them identify verified circular economy suppliers.

The initiative has been rolled out across LGP's supplier network, which supports all 128 councils in New South Wales, with backing from its Strategic Procurement Solutions team.

The assessment is integrated into LGP's existing source-to-contract platform, which OneAdvanced has supported since 2013. It replaces a manual survey process that sat outside the main supplier and contract management system.

Under the new approach, suppliers submit evidence to support sustainability claims, including certifications and other documentation. LGP validates the information before assigning circular economy recognition tags that councils can use to filter suppliers in the system.

The move reflects growing pressure on local government buyers to factor environmental, social and governance standards into purchasing decisions, particularly around waste reduction, reuse, recycling and broader circular economy goals.

More than 1,000 suppliers on LGP contract panels were invited to take part in the first phase of the assessment. More than 600 responded by the deadline, about twice the participation level of earlier assessment efforts.

The higher response rate gives councils a broader pool of screened suppliers when searching for businesses that meet sustainability requirements. For procurement teams, it also means supplier data, contract information and sustainability records can be viewed in one place rather than stitched together manually.

Dr Hadi Vandchali, Consultant, ESG and Procurement Services, LGP, said local government bodies had struggled to verify supplier claims in this area. "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," Dr Vandchali said.

He said the partnership had changed the process. "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."

Single system

The integrated model improves reporting and reduces administrative work for staff who previously had to consolidate responses from separate records. It also allows several internal teams to access the same supplier sustainability data alongside procurement and contract information.

Abhijith Suresh, Sustainable Procurement Analyst, LGP, described the change as an improvement in data quality and accessibility. "Previously, supplier responses were captured separately from supplier records, creating a time-consuming process involving manual data consolidation, validation and reporting. 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."

For OneAdvanced, the work involved adapting functions already in the procurement platform to support the circular economy assessment. The model draws on supplier and contract data already held in the system rather than creating a separate ESG review process.

Abhijit Roy, IT Business Analyst, OneAdvanced, said the design gives councils and LGP better oversight of supplier information. "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. 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."

Broader pressure

The project sits within a wider shift in public sector procurement, as councils and other agencies face closer scrutiny over how they assess suppliers on environmental and social factors. In local government, those requirements are increasingly tied not only to reporting expectations but also to day-to-day purchasing decisions.

LGP acts as a prescribed procurement entity for councils in New South Wales, allowing local authorities to buy through its contracts without running separate tenders above threshold values. That gives it a central role in setting procurement processes and supplier screening methods used across the state's council sector.

The first phase of the initiative focuses on circular economy criteria, but the same framework could be applied to other ESG categories across supplier assessment and contract management. These include social procurement, Indigenous supplier engagement, modern slavery, carbon emissions and broader sustainability reporting.

Dr Vandchali said the project's value depended on embedding ESG checks into routine procurement work. "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, Australia, OneAdvanced, said: "This 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."