Held at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel, one of the INSPIRE conference event venues.

DESCRIPTION

Successful sustainable procurement enhances an organization’s social, environmental, and economic outcomes – the so called “triple bottom line.”  Many organizations develop guidelines or policies to guide procurement to support both organizational operations and the construction of new public infrastructure.  These guidelines or policies can incorporate a wide range of sustainability principles including considerations regarding material use, resource use, energy use, carbon emissions, equity, and waste products.  A sustainable procurement policy is also a core requirement of Resource Allocation Credit 1.1 – Support Sustainable Procurement Practices in the Envision Sustainable Infrastructure Framework (Envision).

The development of sustainable procurement guidelines or a policy can be challenging, particularly for public sector agencies that just starting to consider how they can operate more sustainably and how they can plan and design more sustainable infrastructure projects.

Members of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure’s (ISI’s) Envision Review Board (ERB), national experts on the use of Envision, will conduct a 4-hour interactive workshop to help attendees tackle the challenge of developing a sustainable procurement guideline or policy that is suitable for their organization’s size and experience with sustainability issues.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES / WORKSHOP OUTCOMES

1. Understand how sustainable procurement is defined.
2. Learn how to conceptualize what sustainable procurement could mean within your organization.
3. Start to define social, environmental, and economic objectives and benefits to be sought by your organization.
4. Initiate development of a sustainable procurement policy for consideration by your organization.
5. Identify next steps for finalizing, adopting, and implementing the policy.

WORKSHOP FACILITATORS

Robert M. Beinstein (Bob), P.E., ENV SP, has held technical and managerial roles in the commercial nuclear industry, managed environmental and smart growth programs in the Federal marketplace, and lead a diverse array of client service-related work in the engineering consulting business.  He served on the Sustainable Infrastructure Advisory Board at the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure (in the Harvard Graduate School of Design) from its inception, helping develop the Envision Sustainable Infrastructure Rating system, and remains involved with ongoing research there.  Bob spent four months in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, managing a temporary power team in the wake of Hurricane Maria, has guest lectured at multiple universities and teaches the Envision Sustainability Professional credentialing course for both government and private sector organizations.  At AECOM, Bob leads the ESG market for the Americas.

Michael Bloom, PE, AICP, ENV SP.  Michael provides sustainability consulting services. Since 1991 he has helped restore environmentally impacted sites, plan and design resilient public infrastructure facilities, and helped communities deliver projects with enhanced economic, social, and environmental project outcomes. He became an Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP) in 2013, an Envision Verifier in 2014, and an Envision Trainer in 2019. Since the spring of 2019 Michael, along with Liz Parent of 5engineering, has provided ENV SP credentialing training to over 200 professionals in the Harris County / Houston region of Texas, after Harris County officials decided to move forward with the use of Envision. As a consultant for the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure, Michael verified five projects under Envision Version 3.0.  He is currently serving as the project ENV SP for two public sector project owners pursuing Envision verification. Michael is a Certified Floodplain Manager, a Board-Certified Environmental Engineer, and a Professional Engineer in Texas and seven other states.

Jennifer Ninete, ENV SP, STP, is a senior sustainability consultant for HDR’s Office of Sustainability. She is HDR’s primary knowledge manager for the Envision® sustainable infrastructure framework, including presenting ENV SP trainings, facilitating Envision feasibility studies, and working on Envision projects, such as the Historic Fourth Ward Park in Atlanta, Georgia; Kansas City Streetcar in Kansas City, Missouri; and the Southport Levee Improvement Project in West Sacramento, California. She also develops and manages HDR’s internal Envision project documentation management tools. In addition, Jennifer created and leads an Envision webinar series to educate and inform HDR ENV SPs about best practices and lessons learned. Her role also focuses on marketing and communication for the company’s sustainability projects and internal sustainability initiatives, collaborating across all of HDR’s business sectors. An ISI approved trainer and project verifier, Jennifer has worked on more than 25 Envision projects.

Justin Waples, P.E. is an Infrastructure Strategic Planning Engineer in the San Francisco Bay Area, specializing in Water Resources and Environmental endeavors, and has 30 years of experience spanning public, private and defense sectors. Justin is a graduate of the Water Environment Federation’s (WEF) Water Leadership Institute, a member of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure’s Outreach Taskforce, the Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineer’s San Francisco Section Sustainability Committee and an active member of the Institute of Asset Management and the Water Environment Federation. Justin is a past Chair of the Bay Area Clean Water Association’s (BACWA) Collection System Committee and past Co-Chair of the BACWA Recycled Water Committee. He is a veteran submariner, and graduate from Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, with an Environmental Engineering (Honors) degree.

Sofía Zuberbühler-Yafar is Program Director for the Sustainable Infrastructure Unit with the New York City Department of Design and Construction. She manages design contracts and ensures the on-time delivery of NYC’s Department Environmental Protection’s various multi-million-dollar city-wide green infrastructure contracts. Currently she is integrating sustainable design measures and goals within the agency standards and contracts. Sofia is the only NYC public agency certified ENV SP Trainer and is preparing fellow colleagues to become ENV SPs.  Mrs. Zuberbuhler-Yafar is a licensed Landscape Architect with a graduate degree in Urban Design and over 19 years of varied experience including urban planning with the NYC Department of City Planning and landscape architecture design in the private realm. She resides in New York City with her family and enjoys traveling.

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