Horizontal policies in public procurement: a taxonomy

Abstract

Public procurement is widely used to promote objectives of an economic, environmental and social nature, such as the economic development of disadvantaged social groups. This article elaborates a detailed taxonomy of such "horizontal" policies. This study is valuable, first, to facilitate analysis of the practical phenomenon of horizontal policies and of the policy implications of different approaches and, second, to illuminate and develop the relevant regulatory frameworks under national and international regimes. The taxonomy is based on three key distinctions between the following: 1. policies limited to securing compliance with legal requirements and those that go beyond such requirements; 2. policies applied only to the contract awarded and those that go beyond it; and 3. nine different mechanisms by which policies are implemented in the procurement process.

Multidimensionality of Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP)—Exploring Concepts and Effects in Sub-Saharan Africa and Europe

“…This requires procurers to have multidisciplinary competences as well as strong and clear political, legal, and institutional frameworks. As to the latter, policymakers need to make an effort to simplify the legal context, since there seems to be an incredibly high number of policies, tools, and legal instruments regulating SPP (an estimated 300) [21][22][23]. This simplification might also contribute to a "common guiding framework enabling public entities to accomplish more easily their day-to-day procurement tasks" [23].…”

“…While many countries in the Global South share a concentration on social aspects in their approaches to SPP, such as South Africa and India, others, such as Brazil and Mexico, are also focusing strongly on environmental criteria [63] (pp. [21][22][23][24]26).…”

Structural development of the tender based land allocation process enables an improved public building development activity

“…However, the study by Appiah (2011) finds that a professional and transparent public process should be employed, irrespective of legislative conditions, to enable sufficient development in public projects. This is also mentioned in the studies by Arrowsmith (2010) and McCrudden (2007) discussing the impact of public processes as enablers of change based on defined strategies and planning methods, which, e.g. provide opportunities for developing environmental and sustainable building solutions.…”

“…It requires skills related to, e.g. economic growth, environmental sustainability and market focus (Van Valkenburg and Nagelkerke 2006;McCrudden 2007;Arrowsmith 2010;Atkinson and Sapat 2012). Careful design and evaluation of the relevant aspects of procurement are crucial for its success.…”

Human Rights Risks in Global Supply Chains: Applying the UK Modern Slavery Act to the Public Sector

“…While procurement policy has long been used to pursue social goals, it has been limited to domestic policies such as confronting discrimination at work (Arrowsmith, ; McCrudden, ). Public buyers have also engaged in ‘green’, ‘sustainable’, ‘social’ and ‘ethical’ procurement’ for several years now.…”