Sustainable Procurement Analysis

With up to 50% of the South African budget being spent directly and indirectly on the purchase of goods, services and works, public procurement comes to the fore as a key tool available to government to achieve ambitious global, national and provincial socio-economic and ecological goals. Making use of procurement in this way is known as Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP). To procure in a sustainable manner requires that government looks beyond short-term needs and considers the longer-term impacts of each purchase and payment.

Sustainable Procurement is defined as “a process whereby organizations meet their needs for goods, services, works, and utilities in a way that achieves value for money on a whole life basis in terms of generating benefits not only to the organisation, but also to society and the economy, whilst minimizing damage to the environment”. Sustainable Public Procurement has been acknowledged and accepted by the Western Cape Provincial Government as a lever to achieve the Provincial Strategic Goals and support the development of the Western Cape as Africa’s Green Economy Hub.

To support the implementation of SPP in the Western Cape, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning: Sustainability Directorate has established the SmartProcurement Programme. This report forms part of the first objective of the programme to review and make the case for SPP in the Western Cape by providing an overview of the current global and national context of SPP, in addition to deeply unpacking the history and trajectory of SPP in the province and local government. The purpose of this report is to provide the foundation on which to build the SmartProcurement Programme, given the Western Cape’s work and leadership on SPP to date.

Read more by downloading the report.