Whole Life Costing has some basic characteristics: 

• It encourages long-term thinking
• It acknowledges the potential for unintended consequence
• It considers a range of material issues 

These characteristics are shared with sustainability thinking, which also challenges us to consider how the decisions we are making now will have impacts in the future. 

Whole Life Costing is a way of bringing this thinking into procurement process and practice. 

What this means in practice is that when a purchasing decision is being made the following factors are considered: 

• Purchase price
• Running costs (maintenance, energy costs)
• Disposal costs
• Internal staff costs (managing the product or service) 

The purpose of this is to avoid any unforeseen costs or impacts associated with a product or service. 

We could also go further and consider how additional value for The University might be obtained by thinking in terms of opportunities that could be derived from a purchase. How might a new product or service link to strategic objectives: 

• Could it enhance the student experience?
• Is it safer or quieter and so contributes to staff wellbeing?