Sound public procurement can be the passkey for much needed trillion dollar savings that could be used to sustain green, resilient, and inclusive economies. Governments today spend an estimated US$13 trillion on public contracts for goods, services, and public works; yet they also lose as much as a quarter of this spending to inefficiencies or shortsighted procurement practices. Pressures to improve procurement practices are likely to increase in the coming years as governments grapple with unprecedented levels of debt, reductions in tax collection, and increasing income inequality. It is time to unlock the full potential of public procurement.
The new World Bank report “A Global Procurement Partnership for Sustainable Development – An International Stocktaking of Developments in Public Procurement” offers a way forward. The synthesis report discusses the potentially catalytic role of public procurement to support broader policy goals such as environmental stewardship, resilient and inclusive economic development, and social protection.
Join us for a conversation on how public procurement is central to set the global economy on a more sustainable path and how a broad international coalition—involving governments as well as private businesses—could contribute to creating an efficient global system that better serves the public’s needs through a comprehensive public procurement agenda.
