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Sustainable Public Procurement

Governments are the largest consumers in an economy. The public sector on average spends 45 per cent to 65 per cent of their budgets on public procurement, which amounts to 13 per cent to 17 per cent of the GDP. If governments make a concerted effort to purchase environmentally- and socially-preferable products and services, their substantial buying power will drive the delivery of sustainable development policies and stimulate markets for sustainable products and services.

Contents

• Exploring the challenges in implementing Sustainable Public Procurement to deliver on value for money
  Governments face many hurdles in both the implementation and the scaling up of SPP. IISD has investigated several of these challenges and reports on what is restricting the implementation of SPP in various contexts.

• IISD country projects on Sustainable Public Procurement
  IISD has worked with policy-makers in several developing and emerging countries to design and implement policies on SPP. Some governments spend almost half their budgets on procurement—from purchasing stationary, furniture and computers to the commissioning of roads, railways, power plants, schools and hospitals. All this equates to substantial investment that can account for 13 to 20 per cent of GDP in industrialized countries, and more in transitioning and developing countries.

• Public-Private Partnerships/Private Finance Initiative
  Increasingly utilized in the provision of public infrastructure and services, public-private partnerships represent an alternative, and potentially more effective, method of investment for governments seeking to fulfill their infrastructure needs in adverse financial conditions. IISD is investigating to what extent PPPs represent value-for-money across the whole life cycle.