The Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group makes purchases according to EU directives, as recognised in the Code on Conducting Tenders, and to the “Regulation for Negotiating Work of Group Companies”, issued on 27th March 2012.
The selection of suppliers is carried out according to assessments on quality, price and other requirements needed by the company (the location and nationality of the supplier does not figure amongst selection criteria).
Amongst standard contractual clauses included in contracts, contractors are also required to observe:
Starting from 2013, group companies are invited to add to new contracts a clause on respect for the group's Environmental Policy, so as to follow the guidelines for the implementation of Environmental Management Systems.
Purchases which are not strictly linked to the company's core business are referred to Ferservizi. Whereas core purchases are handled directly by each individual company, except occasional cases where the purchase is made by Ferservizi.
Because the group is aware of how much the improvement of its own economic, environmental and social performance also entails the involvement of suppliers, it has put together an assessment process for the supply chain so as to strengthen its ability to identify and manage the impact linked to them.
The path taken to analyse and then improve the sustainability performance of the supply chain continues with the provision of a self-assessment questionnaire to the company's strategic suppliers.
As part of the process to improve the supply chain, in the second half of 2016 an RFI pilot project to assess suppliers began, through the use of EcoVadis, a collaborative platform that means you can monitor the sustainability performance of companies in 150 sectors and 110 countries.
The main criteria used to choose suppliers have been: