SPP Toolbox: Supporting Sustainable Public Procurement in the Context of Socio-Technical Transitions

Paula Cayolla Trindade,Paulo Partidário,Paula Antunes

doi:10.3390/su10010067

Abstract

Public procurement can shape production and consumption trends and represents a stimulus for both innovation and diversification in products and services, through a direct increase in demand. In recent years, the interest in demand-side policies has grown and several approaches have emerged, such as Green Public Procurement (GPP), Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) and Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI), representing strategic goals to be achieved through public procurement. In this context, there is a need to guide and support public organizations in the uptake of GPP, SPP and PPI practices. To respond to the challenges raised by the operationalization of such strategies, this paper proposes a new tool—the SPP Toolbox—for guiding public organizations as they re-think the procurement process, raising their ambitions and broadening their vision, thus changing the organizational approach towards culture, strategies, structures and practices. This toolbox integrates insights from GPP, SPP and PPI objectives and practices, in the context of the emergence of socio-technical transitions. The toolbox coherently links GPP, SPP and PPI, allowing flexibility in terms of goals, yet promoting an increasing complexity of institutionalized practices and skills—from GPP to SPP and then from SPP to PPI, organized in a framework fully integrated into the organizational strategy.

Highlights

The high purchasing power of public organizations and of public authorities in particular, is a market factor with enormous potential [1], representing 16% of the gross domestic product of the EU [2,3] and covering a wide range of goods and services, including: office equipment, building components, transport vehicles, building maintenance, transport services, cleaning, catering and works [1]
The interest in demand-side policies has grown and several approaches have emerged, such as Green Public Procurement (GPP), Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP), Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) and, more recently, Circular Procurement (CP) [6], representing strategic goals to be achieved through public procurement [7]
At the European level, in particular, GPP has increasingly played a central role in environmental policies [4], while PPI and CP are becoming a priority on the European agenda [8,9]

Summary

Introduction

The high purchasing power of public organizations and of public authorities in particular, is a market factor with enormous potential [1], representing 16% of the gross domestic product of the EU [2,3] and covering a wide range of goods and services, including: office equipment, building components, transport vehicles, building maintenance, transport services, cleaning, catering and works [1]. Green Public Procurement (GPP) is based on the use of environmental criteria in public tendering [17], developing capacity for green supplies and markets [21] and stimulating the innovation capabilities of suppliers [1,5]. It aims to achieve value for money, while reducing the environmental impact of purchased products and services over their whole life-cycle [21]. Transitions are characterized by the interaction between the three levels: niche-innovations build up internal momentum; whilst, changes at the landscape level create pressure on the regime; and, destabilization of the regime creates windows of opportunity for niche innovations [10]

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion