Beyond competition and value for money : corporate social responsibility in public procurement

Other Title(s)

ما وراء المنافسة و القيمة مقابل المال : المسؤولية الاجتماعية للشركات في المشتريات العامة

Author

Trybus, Martin

Source

مجلة كلية القانون الكويتية العالمية : مجلة علمية محكمة ربع سنوية

Publisher

Kuwait International Law School

Publication Date

2020-01-31

Country of Publication

Kuwait

No. of Pages

30

Main Subjects

Law

English Abstract

The State needs to buy from the private sector and procurement law regulates this process.

Many experts think, that public procurement should aim for more than just value for money, that the procurement function is a powerful instrument in the hands of the State that should be used for the 'greater good'.

The 'greater good' are labour related objectives, such as a minimum wage or health and safety at the workplace, environmental objectives, such as energy efficiency or simply using environmentally friendly material, or fair trade and human rights.

In the context of public procurement where the focus is on the State as a contracting authority, these objectives can be called secondary objectives, horizontal objectives, or sustainable procurement.

In the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the focus is on the private economic operators who are bidding for government contracts.

Sustainability objectives are pursued by the State through public procurement to change the behavior of the economic operators they are doing business with.

Thus, we have a public and a private side of the same sustainability coin.

As the objective is to change society for the better through public procurement, the changed behavior should actually not be limited to the economic operator's corporate social responsibility in the context of the awarded contract but to all their other business as well.

Moreover, there is the intention to even change the behavior of companies that do not even do business with the government by creating good corporate social responsibility examples in the business community.

This paper argues that horizontal objectives should be promoted through public procurement.

However, a balance must be struck with the other objectives - especially with value for money.

This is best done early, in the technical specifications or definition of requirements, where appropriate through qualification, and to a more limited extent as an award criterion.

This makes procurement laws more complex and this must be accepted.

Most importantly though, is control and enforcement.

Otherwise competition will be distorted by economic operators who make empty promises and win over more honest and quite possibly better offers.

Data Type

Conference Papers

Record ID

BIM-1458466

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