Moving Towards Sustainable Performance-Based Procurement in the Western Cape

This report explores how public procurement is no longer a back-office function anymore, but a crucial pillar for delivering government services, and a strategic one for tackling climate change. 

Worldwide governments are strategically rethinking the way they are spending taxpayers’ money. The international and high-level support for reforming public procurement laws, policies and processes to deliver value for money across the lifecycle of the goods, services and assets governments are buying, has never been more present. In 2015 the United Nations also adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that include public procurement as an important tool for shifting markets towards more sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Sustainable, green, smart or strategic public procurement is ultimately about ensuring that the products and services purchased by governments are as sustainable as possible. This means reducing environmental impact, generating positive social and economic impact in a cost-efficient manner, and driving and creating new markets for innovative climate-friendly technologies, goods, services and infrastructure that generate co-benefits for society.