Wood material selection in school building procurement – A multi-case analysis in Finnish municipalities

Abstract

Municipalities are increasingly adopting green public procurement practices in construction projects; one example is the specification of preferred building materials in public procurement tenders. Before tendering documents, different stakeholders and their ambitions influence the framing of material requirements. In this paper we explore factors initiating wood material selection in five public procurement cases, where the initiation phase of the procurement resulted in wood material use requirements specified in the public procurement tenders. Based on the cases, we constructed potential paths leading to building material requirements to be set in the tender documents. We also identified triggers initiating construction projects and offer a discussion of the role of different determinants related to building material use. These identified paths, triggers, and determinants unveiled the dynamics behind building material requirements in public procurement tenders and more specifically, the actions and underlying values for doing so.