Public Procurement

PublIc Procurement Public procurement is a major way to implement sustainability. The government is a major actor in public procurement. Therefore, governments can make a significant impact toward sustainability with its emphasis on public procurement. Aman et al. (2014) have advocated public procurement as a means to attain sustainability. Nijaki and Worrel (2012) advocated sustainable procurement by the municipalities and local government for both economic and environmental development. There is an increasing concern about environmental degradation, climate change, resource depletion and the fair treatment of workers among academics and practitioners (Rao and Holt 2005; Brammer and Walker 2011; Schaltegger et al. 2012). There was considerable emphasis on green supply chain management in the private sector (Srivastava 2007; Seuring and Müller 2008). The public sector can use the procurement strategy for sustainable development (Walker and Brammer 2009). Public sectors have a responsibility in using environmentally friendly, socially responsible and innovative products and services on a large scale (Edler and Georghiou 2007).

Sustainable procurement (SP) refers to the act of integrating a concern for broader social and environmental impacts within procurement undertaken by the government or public sector bodies (Preuss 2009; Walker and Brammer 2009). Research concerned with SP is concerned with either the direct or indirect achievement of broader social and environmental ends through procurement activities. There is a lack of research on the direct achievement of social and environmental objectives as a result of procurement. One study explores the impacts of a project designed to leverage public procurement in Northern Ireland to improve the region’s performance in respect to long-term unemployment (Erridge and Mcolroy 2002). Researchers focused on a particular sector in order to comply with sustainability procurement initiatives in building and construction (FaithEll et al. 2006; Hall and Purchase 2006), information technology, food (Rimmington et al. 2006), and timber and forest products sectors (Bull et al. 2006). The governments can issue directives to all the agencies for sustainable products in all procurements.