Assessing the Degree of Sustainability Integration in Canadian Public Sector Procurement

Monica Da Ponte, Megan Foley and Charles H. Cho
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Monica Da Ponte: Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada
Megan Foley: EcoVadis, Toronto, ON M5V 2C5, Canada
Charles H. Cho: Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P3, Canada

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 14, 1-19

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to identify the current state of sustainability integration into Canadian government procurement and make recommendations on how to deepen current integration in order to accelerate the advancement of existing sustainability goals. We reviewed 50 publicly available Requests for Proposals (RFPs) issued between 2016 and 2019 and evaluated the significance of sustainability integration and the expanse of considerations using two measurement schemes. Our analysis suggests that sustainability integration into RFPs is currently superficial with limited integration into the evaluation process. We also found that the integration of sustainability was narrow with significant gaps in the breadth of environmental and social impact areas that were considered. As such, we provide insights and recommendations that will enable governments to accelerate the advancement of sustainability through the use of procurement.

Keywords: Canada; procurement; public sector; supply chain; sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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