Abstract
Public procurement involves a process through which the public sector buys goods, services and works from private suppliers to accomplish its functions, including road infrastructure projects. Sustainability, both within the procurement process and the infrastructure outcome, comprises economic, environmental and social dimensions. Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) is acknowledged as a core dimension of sustainable development goal 12 (SDG12) on sustainable consumption by States and production by businesses, and as a State-business nexus within Pilar I of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). Clearly, SPP delivering sustainable infrastructure involves broad positive effects and benefits for involved stakeholders and leveraging power over business suppliers to include social sustainable criteria within the procurement process is in the State’s hands. However, SPP has been little implemented in developing States such as Mexico resulting in unsustainable infrastructure outcomes. This article explores, through two case studies, the barriers of socially sustainable public procurement of road infrastructure developed by businesses contracted by the State in Mexico. By identifying such barriers, the Mexican State could be able to implement measures to tackle them and deliver on social sustainable infrastructure aligned with its commitments on sustainable development goals and its international obligations on human rights.
Highlights
Public procurement is a process through which the public sector buys, from private suppliers, goods, services and works it needs to accomplish its functions or needs to obtain the best “value for money” “in a timely, economical and efficient manner” [1]
Why SPP is not implemented by developing. States such as Mexico? This article focuses on the social dimension of sustainability within public procurement and addresses the barriers of socially sustainable public procurement of road infrastructure projects developed by businesses contracted by the State in Mexico with a business and human rights lens
Political support to social sustainability in Necaxa-Avila Camacho (Necaxa) allowed the SCT to undertake the environmental impact assessments (EIA) with a socio-environmental assessment, to establish in the contract the obligation for private developers to comply with the EIA, and to approach construction business associations to promote that their affiliates, amongst them the Mexican developer company, to recruit local workers and suppliers to activate the local economies of the project’s site
Summary
Public procurement is a process through which the public sector buys, from private suppliers, goods, services and works it needs to accomplish its functions or needs to obtain the best “value for money” “in a timely, economical and efficient manner” [1]. SPP is acknowledged as a core dimension of SDG12 which refers to sustainable consumption by States and production by businesses. This recognition implicates an international political commitment by States. SPP delivering sustainable infrastructure involves positive effects and benefits for involved stakeholders, and leveraging procuring power over business suppliers to achieve such aims is in the State’s hands. This article focuses on the social dimension of sustainability within public procurement and addresses the barriers of socially sustainable public procurement of road infrastructure projects developed by businesses contracted by the State in Mexico with a business and human rights lens States such as Mexico? This article focuses on the social dimension of sustainability within public procurement and addresses the barriers of socially sustainable public procurement of road infrastructure projects developed by businesses contracted by the State in Mexico with a business and human rights lens
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