Sustainable/Local/Diverse Procurement

Intermountain’s Supply Chain Organization regards sustainable procurement as a type of “preventive medicine” that can be promoted through procurement. Sustainable procurement considers suppliers’ approach to promote the health of the environment, communities, and human health. It also considers the entire life cycle of products and services and strives to minimize adverse impacts and promote community strength.

We consider suppliers “sustainable” if they focus on local sourcing, supplier diversity, and sustainability for the environment. Intermountain seeks supplier partners that add value to our business processes and help meet our customers' needs. We evaluate three categories when considering sustainability: 

• 1-Local Suppliers- Contracting with locally owned businesses creates a multiplier effect for local economies that supports jobs and the community.
  • You are a local supplier if your business is owned and operates within our patient population. Generally, that is within 200 miles of an Intermountain hospital or clinic. We do not apply this criteria to large utilities, financial institutions, rental/leasing agencies, state and city government, clinical provider associations, and Intermountain hospitals and clinics. 
• 2-Diverse Suppliers- A diverse supplier base expands and enhances our corporate relationships, insights and experiences, and builds our communities and economies.
  • Intermountain considers these types of suppliers diverse:
    • Small Business Enterprise
    • Person with Disability
    • Women-Owned Businesses
    • Veteran-Owned Businesses
    • LGBTQ-Owned Businesses
    • HUBZone-Based Businesses
    • Minority-Owned Businesses
      • Businesses that are 51% or more owned or controlled by:
        • Hispanic/Latino
        • Black/African American
        • Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
        • Asian American
        • Indian or Alaska Native
• 3-Sustainability- Intermountain works with suppliers to purchase products and services that promote health and places of healing. Intermountain reviews suppliers that consider their use of energy, water, waste, and chemical factors.
  • Intermountain considers the total cost of ownership from suppliers who use ethical practices, and design products and packaging that minimize waste, energy and water use, and avoid Chemicals of Concern.

Included in sustainable procurement are the focuses of local sourcing, supplier diversity, and sustainability for the environment. Intermountain strongly prefers products and services that integrate community and environmental stewardship.

Intermountain impacts the communities it serves and takes our responsibility seriously to live our missions statement Helping people live the healthiest lives possible^©.  As a result, we can positively influence communities through sustainable procurement practices to build healthier communities, stronger supplier relationships, increased efficiency, and decreased risk.

• Adhere to a Sustainable Procurement policy.
• Utilize a Chemicals of Concern list.
• Include aspects of Sustainable Procurement in our contract language.
• Provide internal training on new policy and best practices.
• Identify our current local and diverse suppliers.
• Set a five-year goal to:
  • Increase diverse supplier spend to 5-10%
  • Increase local supplier spend to 30-35%