The 91ֱ�� Sustainability Park – Advancing on Multiple Fronts

Donya Najjar Lessani — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 14:51:17 +0000

The 91ֱ�� Sustainability Park formerly known as the New Vic Project– Excavation (Breaking Ground for Pavilion N)

A major milestone has been reached for The 91ֱ�� Sustainability Park: excavation and the drilling of geothermal wells of Pavilion N, including civil works, is now underway!

Supporting meaningful transformation: Procurement Services and the Upper Main Road Reconstruction

Donya Najjar Lessani — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 14:26:10 +0000

At the heart of 91ֱ��’s downtown campus, the Upper Main Road Reconstruction project now stands as more than just a physical transformation, it contributes to a welcoming, sustainable, and accessible environment for students, staff, and visitors. This initiative, which stretches from the Y-intersection to the iconic McCall MacBain Arts Building, is not only a much-needed infrastructure upgrade but also a reflection of 91ֱ��’s evolving values and priorities. 

Why Competitive Tendering Works and Why It Matters for 91ֱ��

Donya Najjar Lessani — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 18:25:41 +0000

Why Competitive Tendering Works: Evidence from 91ֱ��

As a public research institution, 91ֱ�� must demonstrate judicious use of all funds—whether public, private donations, or self-funded initiatives. Accordingly, the Sustainable Procurement Policy states that every acquisition needs to align with the University’s triple bottom line—social, environmental, and economic—while complying with relevant policies and regulations. Our goal is simple: to help you meet your teaching, research, and administrative needs under the fairest terms for all parties.

Impact of US Tariffs and Canadian Counter Tariffs on University Purchases

donya.najjarlessani@mcgill.ca — Mon, 26 May 2025 17:49:49 +0000

Nature and Scope of the Tariffs

The Tariffs have been adopted under an order United States Surtax Order (2025-1) of the Government of Canada. A first wave of tariffs affecting approximately 1,100 types of goods (estimated $30B CAD of imports) came into force on March 4, 2025. While the dates have moved several times, the schedules listing the types of goods affected by the first wave and the upcoming second wave are exhaustive and have remained stable.

91ֱ�� Procurement Services Contributes to Advancing Sustainability in Electronics

Donya Najjar Lessani — Wed, 21 May 2025 17:57:18 +0000

As part of its Sustainable Procurement activities, 91ֱ��’s Procurement Services contributes to the ongoing development and improvement of sustainability criteria for EPEAT® (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool), a leading international ecolabel used in the electronics sector. Over the past few years, 91ֱ��’s Program Manager for Sustainable Procurement, Dr. Stéphanie Leclerc, participated in technical committees alongside other stakeholders, including governments, NGOs, manufacturers, and environmental groups, to help shape these new standards.

Buying with Purpose: Collaborating with Social Economy Businesses

donya.najjarlessani@mcgill.ca — Tue, 20 May 2025 12:51:25 +0000

What Are Social Economy Businesses?

Social Economy Businesses provide a variety of goods and services, but they are constituted as not-for-profit organizations or cooperatives with a social or environmental mission. They also have transparent and democratic governance structures.

Unlike traditional businesses, their goal is not to generate profits for shareholders. Instead, they offer goods and services as a means of funding activities that contribute to social or environmental progress.

Examples of such goals include:

“Behind the Scenes: Procurement Services and EHS Visit Biomedical Waste Treatment Facility”

donya.najjarlessani@mcgill.ca — Tue, 20 May 2025 12:32:33 +0000

91ֱ�� generates many kinds of residual materials. In addition to paper, cardboard, electronics, scrap metal, compostables, glass, plastic and metals, our laboratory activities also generate a significant quantity of hazardous wastes. Within this category, biomedical wastes constitute a separate waste flow.

Supporting Reconciliation through Procurement

Donya Najjar Lessani — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:08:08 +0000

Guidelines for Doing Business with Indigenous Business Partners

At 91ֱ��, we recognize our responsibility to foster inclusive, sustainable, and ethical procurement practices. Following the publication of the Provost’s Task Force on Indigenous Studies and Indigenous Education, and its specific call to action encouraging Procurement Services to adopt a strategy to support the Indigenous economy, Procurement Services began working on this initiative.

Strategic Procurement: A Cornerstone of the New Vic Project’s Success

Donya Najjar Lessani — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:19:14 +0000

Sustainability is a key consideration as Procurement Services carries out acquisitions for the landmark project

It’s fitting that Procurement Services has made sustainability a guiding principle as it carries out acquisitions for the New Vic Project, which will bring together scientists doing research on an array of sustainability topics and experts on the shaping and implementation of public policy.   

The Strategic Value of Procurement

Donya Najjar Lessani, Patrick William — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:24:55 +0000

How Expertise Drives Cost Savings and Operational Success

91ֱ��’s Rorqual Project: Collaboration and Innovation at Work

Donya Najjar Lessani — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 16:14:27 +0000

Leading Innovation Through Collaboration: The Rorqual Project

Going Beyond Certifications

Donya Najjar Lessani — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 16:27:00 +0000

Procurement Services Achieves Gold Level Workplace Certification for Sustainability, Staff Retreat Earns Platinum Certification

Optimization of supply chain processes

Patrick William — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 18:32:55 +0000

Process optimization is the result of an organization’s need to improve its internal operations to make its activities more efficient and agile without compromising the quality level of the product or service offered to its clientele. For any sector (private or public), the different procurement departments also need to optimize their various processes. Some examples include management of purchase requests, cost control, engagement of potential bidders in call for tenders and inventory management.

Supply Chain in the AI Era

Patrick William — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 19:06:37 +0000

Which skills will be in demand, and how professionals can leverage AI to not only stay relevant but thrive in this new era

The power and advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is fascinating the entire planet. For many, AI is associated with science fiction films where, as a classic example, machines have taken over humans in a futuristic dystopian world. We should certainly not compare reality to fiction in the way of Hollywood!

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