Vodafone pledges commitment to diversity and sustainability with supply chain overhaul

Telecoms giant Vodafone has unveiled plans to evolve its bid selection process in a bid to boost the diversity and sustainability of its supply chain.

The group has announced that as of next month, it will review its vendor assessment criteria when selecting bids, increasing the focus on sustainability and inclusion.

From October, a supplier’s ‘purpose’ will account for 20 per cent of the evaluation criteria for a ‘Request For Quotation’ (RFQ) to provide Vodafone with products or services from October.

In order to support SMEs and smaller companies competing for tenders against larger corporations, Vodafone will introduce positive scoring for that group of suppliers if they commit to introducing policies that align with Vodafone’s purpose, as well as an online SME support hub.

Vodafone Group CFO Margherita Della Valle commented: “We want Vodafone’s supply chain partners to be aligned with and support our desire to build a resilient, sustainable and inclusive digital society.

“From October 2020, we are evolving our vendor assessment criteria to give significant weighting to our suppliers’ commitments on diversity, inclusion and the environment.

“We will be providing practical support for our smaller suppliers, providing help and tools to ensure that vendors of all sizes have the opportunity to align with our purpose when we consider them for contracts.”