Sustainability And Procurement in International, European, and National Systems

Objectives: Sustainable public procurement – SPP is about incorporating considerations pertaining to the environment or to social aspects in purchasing decisions. SPP can considerably contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

SAPIENS will develop the scientific analyses needed for enhancing SPP and provide buyers in the public sector with tools to procure sustainably, in compliance with the applicable international and EU rules.

Strategy: Unleashing the potential of SPP requires a new generation of experts capable of working across disciplines (law, economics, business sciences) and knowledgeable of the different relevant methodologies.

SAPIENS will train the first generation of SPP experts sharing a common understanding of the challenges faced in achieving the SDGs.

The PhD interdisciplinary research will focus on 15 innovative SPP topics articulated along three axes: (a) SPP from the international agenda to actual buying practices (actors, sustainable economics, new approaches to public buying), (b) procurement to achieve the SDGs (incl. human, workers, women rights, different environmental concerns, SMEs), and (c) sector-specific applied SPP (construction, textiles and catering).

Relevance: Target 12.7 of the SDGs specifically focuses on promoting “public procurement practices that are sustainable, in accordance with national policies and priorities” but SPP is relevant for and may contribute to the achievement of most SDGs.

Public procurement – PP also plays “a key role in the Europe 2020 strategy […] as one of the market-based instruments to be used to achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”.

Enabling and enhancing SPP on the lines of the SAPIENS fully answer a relevant societal need, as proposed by the H2020 program.