Whole life costing (WLC tool) takes account of the total cost of the equipment or service from determination of the general need for it right through to its eventual disposal, termination or replacement. It includes the cost of acquisition and of maintaining and operating the equipment or receiving the service, as well as the purchase (rental or lease) price and the price of consumables. In many cases the initial purchase price is well under half of the whole life cost.

PROC-HE - several links to Education specific toolkits, guidance notes or standard ‘invitation to tender’ documents, can be seen here – Guidance/Toolkits.

European Commission guidelines for environment-friendly procurement
Guide for purchasing in the public sector, which accounts for over 1,000 billion euro every year across the European Union.

Leeds Metropolitan University – The Green Purchasing Guide – can be seen here.

Alternatively, a green purchasing guide produced by Hertfordshire County Council can her seen here.

The Independent ICT Procurement Advisory Service for schools list the several stages of the procurement cycle with step-by-step guidance with lots of tender examples and templates to work from for the purchase of IT equipment including:

· Specifying your needs
· Conducting product research
· Briefing suppliers
· Evaluating responses
· Awarding contracts
· Managing contracts

Further details of IPAS can be seen here.