Sustainable Public Procurement—External Forces and Accountability

Rob Vluggen, Cees J. Gelderman, Janjaap Semeijn and Marc van Pelt
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Rob Vluggen: Department of Marketing & Supply Management, Open University of the Netherlands, 6419AT Heerlen, The Netherlands
Cees J. Gelderman: Department of Marketing & Supply Management, Open University of the Netherlands, 6419AT Heerlen, The Netherlands
Janjaap Semeijn: Department of Marketing & Supply Management, Open University of the Netherlands, 6419AT Heerlen, The Netherlands
Marc van Pelt: Department of Marketing & Supply Management, Open University of the Netherlands, 6419AT Heerlen, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: Public agencies feel the need to advance sustainability and use procurement as an instrument to do so. Many studies focused on internal forces, explaining the limited success of sustainable public procurement. This study focused on how external forces are able to hold municipalities accountable for sustainable procurement. Three mid-sized Dutch municipalities were investigated through an extensive document study and 34 semi-structured interviews. The results show minor legal pressure to enforce sustainable procurement. National legislation, guidelines and principles are considered non-binding, due to a lack of penalties in the case of non-compliance. Real pressure stems from lobbying by branch organizations and political pressure initiated by citizens. In contrast with the New Public Management principles, municipalities appear to place more emphasis on legal and financial accountability, in contrast to performance accountability. Accountants mainly focus on legitimacy and the finance department only monitors spending within budget. The hybrid organization of the procurement function seems to impede sustainability development. Only the larger projects are subject to sustainability requirements, set by centralized purchasing departments. Smaller projects, responsible for 2/3 of the total spend are managed by decentralized groups, remaining under the radar of sustainability policies.

Keywords: public procurement; sustainability; external pressures; legal accountability; financial accountability; performance accountability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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