Communicating with the Market for Socially Responsible Sustainable Public Procurement

Considering the public sector’s high demand, procuring in sustainable ways represents a major lever for achieving more sustainability and promoting fairness throughout the supply chains. Relevant policy changes, such as the amended European Public Procurement Directive and the German public procurement law reform, have prioritised social and environmental sustainability criteria in public procurement processes. While many legal issues have been clarified, uncertainties remain. Deficits in communication between the procuring organisations and the market often hamper a successful implementation of sustainable procurement. As part of the project ‘Impulses for Socially Responsible Public Procurement by Municipalities in Global Value Chains’ of the German Development Institute, the CSCP conducted three virtual stakeholder dialogues. The aim was to identify key reasons for the existing information deficits and to collect good-practice examples of well-functioning communication between public procurement and the market. The report summarises the results of these discussions and highlights key needs from procurement officers and bidding companies in order to promote an early dialog between them and allow efficient exchanges throughout the process.