Public Procurement, a Tool for Achieving the Goals of Sustainable Development (original) (raw)
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Sustainable Public Procurement: From Law to Practice
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This study aims to propose actions to improve the implementation of sustainable public procurement by identifying the problems perceived by public servants and social economy entities. Two types of questionnaires were sent to organizations in Spain and Europe and 217 complete answers were received (152 from the public sector and 65 from the social entities). In addition, 20 semi-structured personal interviews were conducted by phone with managers of social enterprises and four interviews, also by phone, were carried out with relevant people from the public sector. The results of the surveys and the interviews were structured using the analysis of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT), which was considered consistent with the strategic nature of public procurement. The perceived opportunities for the public sector focus on more efficient use of public resources and improvement of reputation and social equality. For the social entities, more participation in proc...
Sustainable public procurement: realization of social aspect
Public procurement concentrates large public sector's purchasing power, and has a significant impact on each country's economic development. The purpose of public procurement procedure is transparency, non-discrimination and accordance to the principles of fair competition in acquisition of goods, services and works necessary for the smooth functioning of the public administration. Besides, public procurement can be one of the most important instruments for sustainable development and other purposes useful to the whole society and the economy of the country. This article briefly discusses the concept of sustainable public procurement, reveals its main ideas and applications. One of them, the social sphere, was chosen the main object of the research. The possibility to decrease unemployment, to increase an integration of socially vulnerable group, and to achieve other socially-oriented goals through an effective implementation of the social aspect of sustainable public procurement has been illustrated. Thus, the article analyses the concept of social procurement, assesses the current situation in Lithuania, overviews the good practice of other countries and provides recommendations for measures to extend the application of socially oriented procurement.
SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: SELECTED COUNTRY EXAMPLES
The purpose of this study is to investigate the steps that are necessary for sustainable public procurement (SPP) to achieve success and whether these steps are followed in the selected countries that follow the SPP policy. As a result of our research, we have found 5 European countries in which the SPP approach is applied integrally. We have examined whether these countries take into account the steps are set by the UNEP approach to SPP. As a result, in European countries that take the SPP approach into account, there are shortcomings in the implementation phase according to specified criteria.
The Importance of Sustainable Procurement in Public Institutions
Journal of Economics, Management and Trade
Sustainable procurement has in the recent past generated considerable interest world over considering the potential benefit it presents in preserving the environment and other aspects of human life and development. This is more seemingly been applied more in private firms than in the public sector organisations. The research sought to add to the knowledge of sustainable procurement and how organisations in the public sector can embrace it to facilitate development and service delivery. The research outlined the importance of sustainability and the challenges that organisations face when implementing initiatives. The outcomes of the research indicate that there was lack of clear policy guidelines in most public institutions to embrace and act on the pillars of sustainability. There was also a lack of top management commitment to ensure that sustainability is implemented in public institutions. There was a need for public institutions to ensure that a comprehensive skills development ...
Sustainability (MDPI), 2019
Strategic objectives in public procurement, such as environmental or social considerations, are being increasingly referred to under the umbrella term of sustainable public procurement (SPP). The concept of sustainability is intrinsically multidimensional, encompassing environmental, social, and economic aspects. However, the existing literature on SPP highlights the generalization that the regulation and practices of public procurement are biased toward the environmental dimension. There is conflicting evidence from countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that calls for further investigation. Analyzing how SPP is actually constituted in SSA and contrasting it with the situation in the European Union (EU), as a spotlight on the Global South and North, contributes to a better understanding of sustainability in public procurement. The comparative analysis will help with understanding processes related to the integration or disintegration of sustainability dimensions in SPP. Our results indicate a contrary orientation on the environmental and the social dimensions in the EU and SSA. Although there is no sign of a comprehensive integration of all dimensions in SPP, there are developments toward the integration of the ‘missing’ dimension in the respective regional setting. Thus, at the moment, achieving a multidimensional implementation of SPP appears to be more a matter of expanding SPP practices of the ‘missing’ dimension than of pushing for integrated concepts.
Journal of Cleaner Production, 2020
There is limited understanding of how various pressures foster sustainable public procurement, particularly in the context of developed versus developing economies. Using Institutional Theory, this paper develops a theoretical model to provide a nuanced understanding of how institutional pressures and citizens' attitude towards sustainability affect the level of sustainability adoption in public procurement and how this impacts sustainability performance. Using a sample of 546 public procurement practitioners from 102 countries, a structural equation model to test the proposed hypotheses is developed. The proposed conceptual model has been validated on three categories of public procurement, namely goods, works, and services. Results show that institutional pressures and citizens' attitude towards sustainability significantly impact the level of sustainability adoption in public procurement, which, in turn, improves sustainability performance. The impact of these pressures differs in developed and developing economies. Accordingly, policymakers may harness various pressures according to their context and the procurement category to foster sustainability in public procurement.
The adoption of social and environmental objectives in public procurement was aimed at addressing socioeconomic justice and environmental protection in economic development. Studies found inefficiencies in the adoption of sustainable objectives by the public sector due to varied objectives adopted in public procurement and the inefficiency of the adoption process. A qualitative approach was undertaken to investigate the public sector's adoption of social and environmental objectives in public procurement that involved hierarchies, people, and the system of administration and governance. This study found that there were two types of structure in the public sector-a regulatory approach and a collaborative approach. These approaches were found to have different effects on the adoption of social and environmental objectives in public procurement. The findings provided contributions to organisational theory and the practise of public procurement policies and regulations.
Sustainability takes centre stage in public procurement
Ruch Prawniczy, Ekonomiczny i Socjologiczny
This article delineates how a shift in the priorities of EU laws can change public procurement’s current centre of gravity from its fixation on the lowest price to that of a more balanced consideration of different societal goals. There is an acknowledgement that public money can meaningfully contribute to support for social justice and the fight against climate change and environmental degradation. To this end, the present EU legal framework, together with more advanced experiences in Italy and in a few other EU Member States, are illustrated before an analysis of the many initiatives currently under consideration by the EU law makers as per the European Green Deal and the Sustainable Products Initiative. The article then highlights the need to reconsider the theory of public procurement law and practice as well as the current EU legislative framework for public procurement (and concessions).
2019
The state has its purchasing power evidenced. Therefore, by using it strategically, it can influence the market, creating a demand for sustainable goods and services, through the inclusion of sustainable criteria in their purchasing and contracting process. On the other hand, the purchasing process has the action of public contracting agents as decisive element for the application of this process. Thus, it is relevant to know the perception of the agents on the subject, in view of possible obstacles to its implementation, even though the process is legitimized by State regulations. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the perception of public contracting agents regarding sustainable public procurements and their application, by adopting a descriptive character with quantitative approach. The data were collected during the 2 nd International Summit on Sustainable Public Contracting, held in Brasilia, DF. The sample consisted of 77 public servants. The analysis used d...