Socially responsible procurement

Visit the Indigenous suppliers page to learn more about UQ's Indigenous Procurement Strategy and how you can buy from Indigenous suppliers. 

Social enterprises are businesses for good. They operate to fulfill an economic, social, cultural or environmental goal that provides a benefit to the community, with the majority of their profit reinvested into their mission. Purchasing from social enterprises provides employment for marginalised people, places or communities. Note: social enterprises may also be Indigenous or sustainable businesses.

Finding social enterprises

You can download a list of current UniFi social enterprise payees (PDF, 101 KB) (staff login required).

 You can also search for social enterprises through:

•  Social Traders 
  • The Social Traders Social Enterprise Finder includes social enterprises across Australia in a number of different industries.

• Queensland Social Enterprise Council Ltd
  • The Council supports the social enterprise sector in Queensland and provides a searchable directory to link businesses with social enterprises.

• Buyability
  • Buyability is an initiative of the National Disability Service aimed at supporting employment for people with disability. Their website can be used to identify and source social enterprises across Australia.

The Queensland Government's Buy Queensland approach prioritises support for local jobs and positive outcomes for Queensland communities. UQ is required to apply the local benefits test in the evaluation criteria of some procurement activities to evaluate benefits a supplier would bring to the local area. This test also considers broader strategic factors such as stimulating local employment, socio-economic development in local regions, and supporting social objectives when making procurement decisions.

Use the local benefits test decision tree (PDF, 60.3 KB) to determine if the local benefits test applies to your procurement activity. The local benefits test guide (PDF, 300.1 KB) also provides further information.

UQ has an obligation to report under the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth) and has embedded the commitment to addressing modern slavery in procurement and purchasing activities.

Read more about modern slavery and find training and resources on the UQ Modern Slavery webpage.

The UQ Sustainability Strategy provides a framework of four key pillars for sustainability within the UQ community. These include:

• Pillar 1: Academic - Teaching and learning, research and innovation
• Pillar 2: Operations - Energy, water, transport, waste and climate
• Pillar 3: Engagement - UQ community, public engagement 
• Pillar 4: Administration and planning - Planning, wellbeing, equity, investment and finance.

You can make considered purchasing decisions by evaluating suppliers based on environmental ratings (for example, the Green Star rating system and energy ratings), reviewing their own sustainability strategies and evaluating the need for physical goods such as paper and single use products in your office.

Consider the following before purchasing:

• Does my office or unit need this product?
• Can I share this product or borrow it from another unit temporarily? 
• Can I reuse something from Warp-it?

For any enquiries, contact procurement@uq.edu.au and for more information, visit the UQ Sustainability website.

Training

• Introduction to social procurement (Workday)
• Modern slavery training (externally run)
• UQ procurement training
• UQ sustainability training

Policies, strategies and resources

• Procurement policy and procedure
• UQ Indigenous Procurement Strategy 2022-2025 (PDF, 222.8 KB)
• UQ Modern Slavery webpage
• UQ Sustainability
• Queensland Government Social Procurement resources