Mainstreaming Sustainable Public Procurement In Ghana’s Public Sector: The Role Of E-Government

ABSTRACT Considerations for environmental and socio-economic impacts in procuring public goods and services is arguably the most significant reform in public procurement meant to address some inefficiencies associated with government procurement behaviours. This practice, which is referred to as Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) has stimulated a high level of research attention with several positive impacts. However, these studies are limited to the developed countries. Knowledge of the SPP practice is very limited in the context of developing countries despite their significant improvement in e-government structures. Through a case study design of the qualitative research approach, this study attempts to: i) explore SPP mainstreaming challenges; ii) the role of e-government in SPP; iii) assess readiness to roll-out e-procurement. The study purposively sampled and interviewed 18 participants from four Procurement Entities from Ghana’s Public Sector. From a thematic content analysis of both primary and secondary data, the study found that the absence of a composite legal framework, limited capacity of relevant stakeholders, and lack of political will and budget constraint inter alia, impedes SPP implementation in Ghana’s public sector. A Two-Way Principal Agency relationship is thus established among stakeholders in their quest to promoted SPP. However, e-government tool akin government portals, social media handles and an integrated e-procurement software provide an informative avenue for assessing market readiness and sensitizing stakeholders on the SPP practice. Among other things, the study recommends a composite legal document on SPP and a robust monitoring and evaluation system as linchpins for mainstreaming SPP in Ghana.