Integrating Responsible Business Conduct In Public Procurement

Society has become increasingly aware of environmental and human rights-related risks in global supply chains in recent years. Public procurement can make a positive contribution to economic, environmental and social progress. This report takes stock of current practices integrating responsible business conduct (RBC) in public procurement and identifies possible avenues to increase the impact of public procurement strategies to promote responsible business conduct objectives.

Society has become increasingly aware of environmental and human rights-related risks in global supply chains in recent years. Public procurement can make a positive contribution to economic, environmental and social progress. If not used strategically, though, people and the planet may face more negative impacts. Meanwhile, governments and businesses face calls to take greater responsibility for their purchasing decisions. Risk-based supply chain due diligence can help public buyers to boost responsible business behaviour through public procurement. This report takes stock of current practices integrating responsible business conduct (RBC) in public procurement and identifies possible avenues to increase the impact of public procurement strategies to promote responsible business conduct objectives. Based on a survey with both OECD Members and Adherents to OECD instruments on public procurement and RBC, it covers a wide geographical range and features data focused on responsible business conduct aspects in public procurement. The report encourages policy makers and practitioners in public procurement and RBC to collaborate with all relevant stakeholders, drawing on good practices from across policy areas.

The OECD Principles for Integrity in Public Procurement are a ground-breaking instrument that promotes good governance in the entire procurement cycle, from needs assessment to contract management.

This timely work reflects on the role and obligations of the state as a buyer of goods and services, from the dual disciplinary perspectives of public procurement and human rights. Through theoretical and doctrinal analyses, and practice-focused case studies, it interrogates the evolving character of public procurement as an interface for multiple normative regimes and competing policies. Challenging the prevailing paradigm which subordinates human rights to narrowly-defined economic goals, insightful contributions advance a compelling case for greater inter-disciplinarity and policy coherence as crucial to realising international policies such as those embodied in the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

The OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains in the Garment and Footwear Sector helps enterprises implement the due diligence recommendations contained in the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises along the garment and footwear supply chain.

Provides, for the first time, a comparative overview of practices from A to Z. It maps out practices to enhance integrity throughout the whole procurement cycle, from needs assessment to contract management. It also takes a global stance by including practices from non-OECD countries.

This is an updated edition which includes new supplements on Tin, Tantalum and Tungsten and on Gold.

In recent years, the search for innovative, locally relevant and engaging public service has become the new philosophers’ stone. Social procurement represents one approach to maximising public spending and social value through the purchase of goods and services. It has gained increasing attention in recent years as a way that governments and corporations can amplify the benefits of their purchasing power, and as a mechanism by which markets for social enterprise and other third sector organisations can be grown. Despite growing policy and practitioner interest in social procurement, there has been relatively little conceptual or empirical thinking published on the issue. Taking a critically informed approach, this innovative text examines emerging approaches to social procurement within the context of New Public Governance (NPG), and examines the practices of social procurement across Europe, North America, and Australia. Considering both the possibilities and limitations of social procurement, and the types of value it can generate, it also provides empirically-driven insights into the practicalities of ‘triple bottom line’ procurement, the related challenges of measuring social value and the management of both the strategic and operational dimensions of procurement processes. As such it will be invaluable reading for all those interested in social services, public governance and social enterprise.