TY - JOUR
T1 - Public Procurement – Price-Taker or Market-Shaper?
AU - Hamilton, Sandra G.
N1 - Funding Information:
Illustrating the breadth of this future research agenda, the Sustainability and Procurement in International, European and National Systems (SAPIENS) network is the most extensive PhD program on sustainability and procurement worldwide (). Launched in March 2021 and financed by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Sklodowska Programme, the initiative consists of 15 PhD interdisciplinary projects involving international actors and central purchasing bodies. In investigating the advancement of sustainable public procurement, the research topics encompass the role of free trade agreements; digitisation of procurement processes; the interaction of the circular economy, IT, works, textiles and food procurement with the sustainability aspects of climate change, human rights and equality.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2022/1/4
Y1 - 2022/1/4
N2 - Purpose: This paper examines the role of government procurement as a social policy mechanism within a multilateral open trading system. Government regulations globally are being transformed to foster more responsible business conduct in multinational enterprises (MNEs). Yet, concern that sustainability may present a discriminatory barrier to trade has stalled the progress of sustainable public procurement (SPP) at the international level, raising questions regarding the role and scope of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) to align taxpayer-funded contracts with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals. Design/methodology/approach: With a focus on social sustainability, this paper reviews the grey and academic literature to assess the changing landscape of public procurement policy and supply chain legislation in high-income countries. Findings: Frontrunner nations are adopting a mandatory approach to sustainable public procurement and due diligence legislation is elevating supply chain risk from reputational damage to legal liability. While technological innovation and the clean, green production of manufactured goods dominates the sustainable public procurement literature, the social aspects of sustainability poverty, inequality and human rights remain underrepresented. Research limitations/implications: The scope of this paper is limited to the examination of government procurement covered by the WTO-GPA (2012). Smaller value contracts, under the WTO-GPA thresholds and the category of defence are beyond the scope of the paper. Social implications: The paper focusses on the underserved topic of social sustainability in business-to-government (B2G) – business to government – supply chains arguing that for responsible business conduct to become a competitive advantage, it must be more meaningfully rewarded on the demand-side of all taxpayer-funded contracts in organisation for economic co-operation and development countries. The paper introduces the idea of priceless procurement as a mechanism to build system capacity in the evaluation of non-financial sustainability objectives. Originality/value: To build the capacity to stimulate competition based on social and environmental policy objectives, the paper introduces the concept of priceless procurement in B2G contracts.
AB - Purpose: This paper examines the role of government procurement as a social policy mechanism within a multilateral open trading system. Government regulations globally are being transformed to foster more responsible business conduct in multinational enterprises (MNEs). Yet, concern that sustainability may present a discriminatory barrier to trade has stalled the progress of sustainable public procurement (SPP) at the international level, raising questions regarding the role and scope of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) to align taxpayer-funded contracts with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals. Design/methodology/approach: With a focus on social sustainability, this paper reviews the grey and academic literature to assess the changing landscape of public procurement policy and supply chain legislation in high-income countries. Findings: Frontrunner nations are adopting a mandatory approach to sustainable public procurement and due diligence legislation is elevating supply chain risk from reputational damage to legal liability. While technological innovation and the clean, green production of manufactured goods dominates the sustainable public procurement literature, the social aspects of sustainability poverty, inequality and human rights remain underrepresented. Research limitations/implications: The scope of this paper is limited to the examination of government procurement covered by the WTO-GPA (2012). Smaller value contracts, under the WTO-GPA thresholds and the category of defence are beyond the scope of the paper. Social implications: The paper focusses on the underserved topic of social sustainability in business-to-government (B2G) – business to government – supply chains arguing that for responsible business conduct to become a competitive advantage, it must be more meaningfully rewarded on the demand-side of all taxpayer-funded contracts in organisation for economic co-operation and development countries. The paper introduces the idea of priceless procurement as a mechanism to build system capacity in the evaluation of non-financial sustainability objectives. Originality/value: To build the capacity to stimulate competition based on social and environmental policy objectives, the paper introduces the concept of priceless procurement in B2G contracts.
KW - Corporate and social responsibility
KW - Decent work
KW - Government policy
KW - Government procurement
KW - Labour
KW - Public procurement
KW - Responsible management
KW - SDG12.7
KW - Socially responsible public procurement
KW - Sustainable public procurement
KW - UNSDG
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121807361&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/cpoib-08-2020-0116
DO - 10.1108/cpoib-08-2020-0116
M3 - Review article
JO - Critical Perspectives on International Business
JF - Critical Perspectives on International Business
SN - 1742-2043
ER -