ISO 20400 Sustainable Procurement Implementation Training Course

Duration 10 days 20 modules · 65 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Procurement Managers, Category Managers and others
Fee from USD 2,200 KSh 190,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-P-008

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience of procurement, sourcing, contract management, supplier management or sustainability management.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Sustainable procurement requires more than adding environmental questions to supplier questionnaires. Procurement teams must translate organisational commitments into specifications, sourcing decisions, contract terms, supplier management and reporting. ISO 20400 provides guidance for doing this while balancing environmental, social, ethical and economic considerations with cost, quality, delivery, risk and legal obligations. The challenge is to create procurement controls that can be evidenced, applied consistently and accepted by internal stakeholders and suppliers.

This course explains how to implement ISO 20400 through the full procurement cycle. Participants assess current procurement maturity, establish policy and governance arrangements, identify priority sustainability risks, apply life-cycle costing, define responsible sourcing requirements, assess suppliers, draft contractual controls and monitor performance. The course addresses human rights due diligence, labour practices, climate and resource considerations, supplier diversity, circular procurement, anti-corruption controls and responsible contract management.

Participants work with realistic procurement cases drawn from public procurement, banking, infrastructure, manufacturing, healthcare and international supply chains. Short instructor briefings are followed by case analysis, group decision-making, sourcing simulations and structured application planning. Each participant develops an ISO 20400 implementation package for a selected spend category or procurement function, including a maturity assessment, stakeholder plan, category risk assessment, evaluation approach, contract controls and performance measures.

The course is suited to procurement professionals who already understand sourcing, tendering and supplier management and now need to embed sustainability requirements in operational procurement decisions. It is also relevant to sustainability, supply chain, risk, compliance and contract management professionals working with procurement teams.

What you will be able to do

  • Interpret ISO 20400 principles and translate them into procurement governance requirements
  • Assess sustainable procurement maturity using a structured gap-analysis model
  • Develop category sustainability risk assessments using spend, supplier and life-cycle evidence
  • Apply life-cycle costing and total cost of ownership to sourcing decisions
  • Draft sustainability specifications, supplier selection criteria and contract clauses
  • Conduct proportionate supplier due diligence covering environmental, social and ethical risks
  • Design supplier performance measures, assurance methods and corrective-action processes
  • Produce an ISO 20400 implementation plan for a priority procurement category

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Build confidence writing sustainability requirements that suppliers can price and deliver
  • Gain a repeatable method for assessing responsible sourcing risks by category
  • Improve credibility when challenging lowest-price decisions with life-cycle evidence
  • Prepare evidence for procurement policy, audit and governance discussions
  • Create a practical implementation package for immediate use at work

For your organisation

  • Creates consistent sustainability controls from demand planning through contract management
  • Reduces exposure to supplier labour, environmental, ethical and reputational risks
  • Improves tender quality through clearer specifications and proportionate evaluation criteria
  • Supports climate, circularity, social value and responsible sourcing commitments
  • Provides traceable evidence for internal assurance, customer requests and public reporting

Course modules

20 modules over 10 days

Participants can explain ISO 20400 guidance and position sustainable procurement within organisational decision-making.

  • ISO 20400 purpose, scope and guidance structure for procurement functions
  • Sustainable procurement principles: accountability, transparency, ethics and human rights
  • Environmental, social and economic considerations within purchasing decisions
  • Procurement's influence over demand, design, sourcing and contract management
  • Materiality concepts for prioritising significant sustainability procurement issues
  • Relationship between organisational sustainability strategy and procurement policy

Participants can define governance arrangements that assign clear sustainable procurement responsibilities.

  • Board oversight, executive sponsorship and procurement accountability arrangements
  • Sustainable procurement policy statements aligned with organisational objectives
  • RACI matrices for procurement, sustainability, legal, finance and operations
  • Delegated authority controls for high-risk sourcing decisions
  • Ethical procurement rules covering conflicts, gifts, fraud and corruption
  • Escalation routes for human rights and environmental concerns

Participants can assess current sustainable procurement capability and identify implementation priorities.

  • Maturity assessment dimensions: strategy, process, people, data and suppliers
  • Evidence gathering through document review, interviews and procurement records
  • Scoring current controls against defined maturity descriptors
  • Gap analysis separating policy gaps from operational control gaps
  • Priority selection using impact, urgency, feasibility and ownership criteria
  • Improvement roadmaps with milestones, resources and accountable owners

Participants can plan stakeholder engagement that supports sustainable purchasing decisions.

  • Stakeholder mapping by influence, interest, impact and decision rights
  • Requirements workshops with users, technical teams and budget holders
  • Finance engagement on life-cycle costs and budget treatment
  • Legal review of sustainability requirements and contractual enforceability
  • Supplier market engagement before formal sourcing begins
  • Communications plans addressing resistance, trade-offs and implementation responsibilities

Participants can select priority categories using spend data and sustainability risk indicators.

  • Spend cube analysis by category, supplier, business unit and geography
  • Kraljic Portfolio Matrix adapted for sustainability exposure and supply risk
  • Category segmentation using spend value, impact potential and supplier dependence
  • High-risk indicators for commodities, labour-intensive services and outsourced operations
  • Data quality checks for supplier names, category codes and purchase descriptions
  • Priority category register with rationale, ownership and review dates

Participants can produce proportionate category risk assessments for sourcing decisions.

  • Risk assessment using likelihood, severity, control effectiveness and residual risk
  • Environmental risk factors: emissions, waste, water, chemicals and biodiversity
  • Social risk factors: forced labour, safety, wages and discrimination
  • Ethical risk factors: corruption, conflict minerals and unfair business practices
  • Opportunity assessment for circularity, inclusion, innovation and local value
  • Risk registers linking category threats to procurement controls

Participants can design human rights due-diligence steps appropriate to supplier risk.

  • UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights procurement implications
  • OECD Due Diligence Guidance six-step risk-based process
  • Worker vulnerability indicators in global and domestic supply chains
  • Supplier screening for forced labour, trafficking and recruitment-fee risks
  • Grievance mechanisms, remediation expectations and escalation procedures
  • Documenting due-diligence decisions where evidence remains incomplete

Participants can specify environmental requirements linked to category impacts and evidence.

  • Greenhouse Gas Protocol Scope 3 categories relevant to purchased goods
  • Carbon baseline data, supplier emissions disclosures and reduction targets
  • Environmental product declarations and product-level impact evidence
  • ISO 14001 certification as evidence of environmental management controls
  • Restricted substances, waste controls and hazardous-materials declarations
  • Deforestation, water and biodiversity considerations for relevant commodities

Participants can incorporate circular economy requirements into demand and sourcing decisions.

  • Circular economy principles: reduce, reuse, repair, remanufacture and recycle
  • Demand challenge before purchase through need, quantity and specification review
  • Designing requirements for durability, reparability and modular replacement
  • Take-back schemes, reverse logistics and end-of-life responsibilities
  • Recycled content claims, chain-of-custody evidence and verification methods
  • Product-as-a-service models for equipment, furniture and technology

Participants can compare sourcing options using life-cycle cost and value-for-money analysis.

  • Life-cycle costing stages: acquisition, operation, maintenance and disposal
  • Total cost of ownership assumptions for energy, consumables and downtime
  • Discounted cash flow calculations using stated discount rates
  • Sensitivity analysis for uncertain prices, volumes and asset lifetimes
  • Monetising selected externalities where policy and data permit
  • Evaluation models balancing price, quality, risk and sustainability

Participants can draft clear, measurable and proportionate sustainability specifications.

  • Outcome-based specifications focused on performance rather than prescribed solutions
  • Minimum requirements versus award criteria in competitive procurement
  • SMART sustainability requirements with measurable acceptance thresholds
  • Recognised labels, certifications and equivalent evidence provisions
  • Avoiding discriminatory requirements and unjustified supplier barriers
  • Specification review checklist for relevance, measurability and verifiability

Participants can create supplier qualification processes matched to risk and market conditions.

  • Prequalification questionnaires covering policy, systems, performance and corrective actions
  • Supplier code of conduct requirements and acknowledgement controls
  • Risk-based document requests for labour, environmental and ethical evidence
  • Sanctions, adverse media and beneficial ownership screening considerations
  • Site assessments, desktop reviews and independent assurance evidence
  • Proportionate due diligence for small enterprises and diverse suppliers

Participants can build transparent evaluation methods for sustainable procurement tenders.

  • Weighted scoring models for price, quality, sustainability and delivery
  • Evaluation criteria linked directly to published tender requirements
  • Evidence scoring anchors that distinguish commitments from demonstrated performance
  • Whole-life cost models within award decision documentation
  • Moderation procedures for evaluator consistency and conflict management
  • Award reports recording sustainability rationale and supplier commitments

Participants can draft contract controls that make sustainability commitments enforceable.

  • Contract schedules defining sustainability obligations, evidence and reporting frequency
  • Key performance indicators with baselines, targets and tolerance levels
  • Audit rights, access provisions and records-retention requirements
  • Corrective-action plans for non-conformance and recurring supplier failures
  • Flow-down clauses for subcontractors and extended supply chains
  • Incentives, improvement commitments and remedies for missed targets

Participants can manage suppliers against sustainability commitments after contract award.

  • Supplier segmentation by strategic value, risk exposure and improvement potential
  • Quarterly business reviews using sustainability scorecards and evidence packs
  • Corrective and preventive action process for identified non-conformance
  • Supplier development plans with milestones, support and verification
  • Collaborative improvement projects for emissions, waste and labour conditions
  • Exit planning where material risks remain unaddressed

Participants can establish reporting measures and assurance trails for sustainable procurement performance.

  • Leading and lagging indicators for sustainable procurement performance
  • Data definitions, calculation rules and ownership for reported metrics
  • Spend under sustainable procurement criteria as a governance metric
  • Supplier performance dashboards for environmental, social and ethical measures
  • Evidence trails supporting internal audit and management review
  • Reporting limitations, data confidence and transparent disclosure statements

Participants can plan a phased ISO 20400 implementation programme with measurable adoption actions.

  • Implementation sequencing across policy, process, systems, capability and suppliers
  • ADKAR change model applied to procurement behaviour change
  • Training needs analysis for buyers, evaluators and contract managers
  • Procurement process updates from requisition through contract closeout
  • Technology requirements for supplier data, workflow and reporting
  • Implementation risks, dependencies and governance review cadence

Participants can adapt ISO 20400 methods to differing sector requirements and market realities.

  • Public procurement rules, equal treatment and transparent evaluation requirements
  • Banking supplier governance for technology, facilities and outsourced services
  • Infrastructure procurement issues: materials traceability, safety and community impacts
  • Healthcare sourcing priorities: patient safety, waste and ethical supply chains
  • NGO purchasing constraints in emergency, fragile and remote markets
  • Multinational category governance across jurisdictions, suppliers and operating units

Participants can define data controls that support credible sustainable procurement decisions.

  • Supplier master-data fields for certifications, risk ratings and ownership
  • Spend analytics dashboards linking categories to sustainability risk indicators
  • Data validation controls for supplier declarations and performance submissions
  • Traceability data requirements for high-risk materials and components
  • Digital questionnaire workflows with approval, expiry and evidence controls
  • Information security considerations when collecting supplier workforce information

Participants can build, review and present a complete ISO 20400 implementation package for a priority category.

  • Select a priority category using spend, risk and impact evidence
  • Complete maturity assessment findings and target-state control recommendations
  • Develop stakeholder map, governance roles and implementation decision points
  • Prepare category risk register covering environmental, social and ethical issues
  • Draft specifications, evaluation criteria, contract controls and supplier measures
  • Present phased implementation plan with metrics, assurance evidence and ownership

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. ISO 20400 procurement maturity assessment template
  2. Category sustainability risk register
  3. Life-cycle costing model
  4. Sustainable tender evaluation matrix
  5. Supplier due-diligence questionnaire
  6. Phased sustainable procurement implementation plan

Who should attend

  • Procurement Managers — responsible for embedding sustainability into sourcing and supplier controls
  • Category Managers — need defensible sustainability requirements for priority spend categories
  • Strategic Sourcing Specialists — design tenders, evaluations and negotiation positions
  • Supply Chain Managers — manage supplier risk, traceability and improvement programmes
  • Sustainability Managers — translate organisational commitments into procurement requirements
  • Contract Managers — monitor supplier obligations and address sustainability non-conformance

Skills and tools covered

Sustainable procurement governanceCategory risk assessmentLife-cycle costingSupplier due diligenceResponsible sourcing criteriaSustainability performance monitoring

Tools and standards

ISO 20400, OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct, UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, Greenhouse Gas Protocol

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course combines short instructor briefings with procurement cases, facilitated group analysis, tender-design tasks, supplier assessment simulations and implementation planning. Participants apply ISO 20400 guidance to realistic category decisions, including construction materials, outsourced services, technology purchases and international supply chains. Trainers use worked examples of specifications, evaluation matrices, due-diligence records and contract schedules. Regular peer review helps participants test whether requirements are relevant, measurable, proportionate and commercially workable.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience of procurement, sourcing, contract management, supplier management or sustainability management. They should understand basic procurement stages such as requirements definition, supplier selection, tender evaluation and contract administration. Familiarity with their organisation's procurement policy, key spend categories and supplier base will help participants apply the methods directly. Previous study of ISO management standards is not required. No specialist environmental science, accounting qualification, audit certification or prior knowledge of ISO 20400 is required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand the basic procurement cycle and have some exposure to sourcing, supplier management, contracts or sustainability work. Prior knowledge of ISO 20400, environmental management systems or formal auditing is not required.

Bring a laptop if possible, together with a procurement policy, category plan, supplier questionnaire or tender document you may wish to improve. Confidential information is not required; anonymised examples are suitable.

The course is designed primarily for procurement managers, category managers, sourcing specialists and contract managers. Sustainability, supply chain, risk and compliance professionals who work closely with procurement will also benefit.

This course focuses on procurement decisions and controls: category prioritisation, specifications, tender evaluation, supplier due diligence, contracts and supplier performance. It uses ISO 20400 as the organising guidance rather than treating sustainability reporting as the main subject.

Participants develop an implementation package for a selected procurement category or function. The templates can be adapted for upcoming tenders, supplier reviews, policy revisions and procurement improvement plans.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. The first week establishes governance, risk, category and sourcing methods; the second week covers contracts, supplier management, measurement and the final implementation capstone.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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