Examining Contemporary Australian Local Government Sustainable Procurement Practices: A National Study

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ABSTRACT World population growth and urban sprawl have exacerbated global cities’ demand for public infrastructure and allied services. Local governments must therefore continuously procure vast volumes of tangible resources entailing significant public expenditure. As a result, however, local governments also become major waste generators, making it critical to examine local government sustainable procurement practices. Sustainable procurement is a purchasing framework integrating social and environmental criteria within any resource acquisition decision-making process, meaning that its adoption can contribute to reducing local government waste output. Despite the risk of not capitalizing on sustainable procurement guidelines, little is known about the impact of local government procurement practices. Addressing this gap, this paper examines the implementation status of sustainable procurement principles in contemporary Australian local governments. With a nation-wide survey (n = 196 from 160 local governments), we find that poor financial standing, insufficient environmental training, and a lack of e-procurement systems represent major barriers to sustainable procurement adoption, while top management, employees’ attitudes, and environmental regulations stand out sustainable procurement practice enablers. Furthermore, there has been a partial implementation of sustainable procurement principles in Australian local governments due to several financial, administrative, and structural limitations identified. This exploratory study assists local government professionals, city planners, and policymakers in dealing with population growth and its attendant waste generation and environmental pollution challenges.