SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY
Our strategy is focused on championing a culture of responsible business among our employees while also promoting supplier diversity and improving our suppliers’ performance. We work to implement our strategy while demonstrating high standards for ethics and integrity – all with the goal of driving business unit success and creating value for FirstEnergy.
Our sustainable supply chain strategy:
Sustainable Supply Chain: Partner with suppliers to achieve our goals and demonstrate the value of a sustainable supply chain.
Supplier Diversity: Expand our roster of diverse suppliers through a targeted diversity program.
Culture of Responsible Business: Empower employees to champion our EESG initiatives and create a culture that values responsible business.
Supplier Performance: Develop a program focused on improving supplier performance, achieving goals and managing supplier risks.
SUPPLY CHAIN DIVERSITY
As FirstEnergy strives for excellence in our core value of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI), one key factor to measure improvement is supplier diversity. Every day, we purchase goods and services from hundreds of different suppliers, and our diverse and local partnerships make a direct economic impact on the communities where our employees and customers live and work.
Supplier diversity is a proactive business strategy that ensures we have a broad and representative supplier base and provides procurement and developmental opportunities for qualified diverse-owned businesses. As part of our efforts to be a corporate leader in making diverse suppliers a natural part of our business environment, FirstEnergy is committed to achieving 19% of supply chain spend with diverse suppliers by the end of 2025.
For additional metrics on our supply chain spend, please visit our EESG data table.
ETHICS, COMPLIANCE AND OVERSIGHT
Ethics and integrity are central to our Supply Chain group. Our Supplier Code of Conduct, The Power of Collaboration, establishes business standards our suppliers must meet in their day‐to‐day activities and reinforces our expectation that suppliers use good judgment and act with integrity in their business dealings with FirstEnergy. The Supplier Code of Conduct is embedded in the purchase orders we establish with each of our suppliers.
Our Supply Chain group has enhanced supply chain management and oversight functions. These changes enable the integration and centralization of our procurement, analytics and standards and material operations functions, creating better coordination of material fulfillment and more strategic alignment to drive cost savings.
In addition, we implemented two new programs to allow stronger oversight. Our suppliers are enrolled in our Third-Party Risk Management program which seeks to ensure that risks associated with the use of third parties (suppliers) are identified, understood, and appropriately mitigated. Our Spend Control Tower is utilized for select supplier categories including consulting and, professional services that will determine how and when our employees enter into consulting agreements. As part of the process, employee spend requests in these supplier categories require detailed information for review, including safety, compliance, and risk considerations, as well as a detailed cost analysis.