Implementing Sustainable Public Procurement

For the execution of policies, as well as for its own operations, governments procure goods and services, ranging from paper and pencils to fighter planes, cleaning services and public road works. In the European Union public procurement represents 16% of the gross domestic product. The Dutch national government alone annually spends 10 billion euro on procurement. Governments are increasingly using their authority as a large buyer in the market to compel private organisations to contribute to the achievement of their public objectives (Rolfstam, 2009). Public procurement has thus become a policy instrument to reach societal outcomes. In this research a specific example of how the Dutch national government is trying to achieve an outcome in society via their procurement: sustainable public procurement (SPP) is examined.