Remembrance Day – how procurement can help our armed forces community

The Armed Forces Covenant is a public sector pledge from government, businesses, charities and organisations to demonstrate their support for the armed forces community.  The Covenant was brought in under the Armed Forces Act 2011 to recognise that the whole nation has a moral obligation to redress the disadvantages the armed forces community face in comparison to other citizens and recognise sacrifices made.  The PPN set out guidance on how organisations can encourage their suppliers to sign the Covenant.

Even though schools, academies and colleges weren’t in-scope organisations for the PPN, it does provide some useful information on how we could work with our suppliers to encourage them to sign the Covenant by including text within our Invitation to Tenders.

Organisations can make a range of written and publicised promises to set out their support to members of the Armed Forces community who work in their business or access their products and services.  The level of support will depend on the size and nature of the organisation but typically includes policies that; encourage reserve service; support employment of veterans and service spouses/partners; give the Armed Forces community a fair deal on commercial products and services.

An example of text that could be included in Invitation to Tenders can be found in the PPN.  The suggested approach is not to make it a condition of working with your organisation or any part of the tender evaluation but instead to use the Invitation to Tender to raise awareness of the Covenant and encourage its support.

Here at CPL Group a number of our employees have served in the Armed Forces and as a mark of our respect, we gave thanks to them for their service on social media. Take a look at our social media channels for the tributes we posted on Remembrance Day.

 

CPL Group’s social media channels:

LinkedIn

Twitter

Facebook