Multidimensionality of Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP)—Exploring Concepts and Effects in Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe

Tim Stoffel, Carol Cravero, Annamaria La Chimia and Geo Quinot
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Tim Stoffel: German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Tulpenfeld 6, 53111 Bonn, Germany
Carol Cravero: Department of Law, Università degli Studi di Torino, Lungo Dora Siena 100/A, 10153 Torino, Italy
Annamaria La Chimia: School of Law, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Geo Quinot: Department of Public Law, African Procurement Law Unit, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1 Matieland, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 22, 1-24

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: sustainable public procurement; socioecological transformation; socially responsible public procurement (SRPP); green public procurement (GPP); sustainable development; multidimensional sustainability; social dimension; environmental dimension; sustainable supply chains (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 (4)

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