Sustainable Public Procurement? A big-data study into the level of sustainability of more than 140,000 published procurement contract notices by Belgian contracting authorities

Public procurement represents 14% of gross national product in the European Union and thus has considerable potential impact to make the European Union more environmentally friendly, more innovative and socially and ethically... [ view full abstract ]

Public procurement represents 14% of gross national product in the European Union and thus has considerable potential impact to make the European Union more environmentally friendly, more innovative and socially and ethically responsible. Systematic empirical research on public procurement is, however, scarce. In this study we examined over 140.000 procurement contract notices that were published between 2011 and 2016 to determine the level and extent of sustainable procurement in Belgium. Using automated coding techniques we were able to assess the current state of sustainable procurement and show patterns that emerge in the level and nature of attention for sustainability in public procurement. Most notably we found that attention for sustainability did not increase over time, was mostly focused on environmental (and not social) sustainability issues and did vary between regions.