An appraisal of the use of social criteria in public procurement in Nigeria
| Pages | 364-397 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-13-03-2013-B005 |
| Published date | 01 March 2013 |
| Date | 01 March 2013 |
| Author | Temidayo O. Akenroye |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public Finance/economics,Texation/public revenue |
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, VOLUME 13, ISSUE 3, 364-397 FALL 2013
AN APPRAISAL OF THE USE OF SOCIAL CRITERIA IN PUBLIC
PROCUREMENT IN NIGERIA
Temidayo O. Akenroye*
ABSTRACT. Socially responsible procurement is increasingly attracting
public attention, but little is known about the use of social
requirements in public procurement process in developing countries.
This study explores the use of social criteria in public procurement in
Nigeria. Data was collected from two websites being used for
advertising public sector contract opportunities in Nigeria and by
means of a questionnaire. Results show that public procurement is
mostly used to promote a range of government policies and
programmes. Based on the findings from this study, it cannot be
concluded that a milestone has been reached in the use of public
procurement to drive social benefits in Nigeria. The extent to which
the findings of this study could be generalised is limited, because the
findings are based on analysis of tender documents and a small-
sized convenience sample of public procurement experts. A larger
sample size may lead to improved accuracy or dissimilar results.
Nevertheless, the research offers some baseline data against which
future studies on social procurement can be conducted and
evaluated.
INTRODUCTION
In recent years, the socially responsible procurement (SRP)
framework has been used in improving social performance and
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* Temidayo Akenroye, M.Sc., is a Procurement Consultant at the National
Centre for Health and Care Excellence, UK; SNV's international consultant
for Procurement Governance in Kenya, Mali and Ghana. His research
interests centre on using procurement and supply chain management
practices to achieve sustainability goals both in the public sector and private
sector contexts.
Copyright © 2013 by PrAcademics Press
AN APPRAISAL OF THE USE OF SOCIAL CRITERIA IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT IN NIGERIA 365
ethical purchasing practices in the private sector (Carter, Kale, &
Grimm, 2000). It is important to use social criteria in the supply chain
because it helps suppliers develop responsible behaviours which
could consequently have an impact on the reputation of the buying
organisation (Bacallan, 2000).
The concept of social procurement is multifaceted. Different
authors have described it as follows: sustainable public procurement
(Walker & Preuss, 2008), sustainable supply chain (Carter & Rogers,
2008), and social benefits purchasing (Burkett, 2010). It has also
been illustrated as the consideration of social factors in the
procurement process (Wells, 2004), the utilisation of the
procurement process and purchasing power to generate community
impact (Mont & Leire, 2008), responsible procurement (Allen, 2006)
and purchasing social responsibility (Carter, 2005). In recent years,
SRP has been associated with corporate social responsibility (CSR)
programmes in the private sector. Most public organisations adopt
this practice in order to achieve sustainable development objectives
(Weiss & Thurbon, 2006). In other words, SRP enables public
organisations to use their spending power to drive equality, fairness
and social change (Drumwright, 1994; EFTA, 2007; Lobel, 2006).
Despite the lagging socio-economic status of Africa, there has
been relatively little empirical research on the use of social factors in
public procurement (Hanks et al., 2008). Brammer and Walker
(2011) surveyed sustainable procurement practices within public
procurement organisations in twenty nations. Their study found that
the nature and degree of sustainable procurement practices vary
across countries. Notwithstanding, the survey results cannot be
generalised for the whole world, given that 96.1% of respondents in
this study come from the United Kingdom, United States/Canada,
Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The countries
represented by the remaining respondents include some in Africa.
Research relevant to the use of social factors in public
procurement is often conducted using doctrinal methodology.
Previous studies have reported that the framework of public
procurement in various jurisdictions reflects certain social factors
(Adjei, 2010; McCrudden, 2004; Wittig, 2003). While the results of
these studies reveal the use of social criteria in public tendering, data
were mostly collected from public procurement acts and regulations.
366 AKENROYE
Given this shortcoming, it is important to broaden our approach to
exploring social procurement and move beyond the doctrinal
research.
This study explores the use of social criteria in public
procurement in Nigeria. Data used for this study were collected from
tender documents and a survey involving public procurement
practitioners. It is important to note here that the Nigerian public
procurement system is still in its early stages. Until 2007, there was
no law regulating public procurement in Nigeria. Similarly, there is not
currently a national policy on how to use public procurement to drive
social outcomes. Even when there is no national policy on social
procurement, some public bodies might have considered social
factors in their purchases at one time or another. Thus we cannot
assume that public procurers have not been using socially related
criteria for evaluation of bids in Nigeria. Additionally, there are many
reasons why social procurement can be suitable in the Nigerian
context. Nigeria is the most populous African country, and the sixth
largest exporter of crude oil (Garcia, Kohl, Ruengsorn & Zislin, 2006).
Despite abundant human and natural resources, the country has a
history of unemployment and poverty. At the same time, corruption
has thrived in most aspects of public services (Akunyili, 2005; Kar &
Curcio, 2011). Gender inequality is another social malady in Nigeria.
There is discrimination against women in the areas of education and
wages (World Bank, 2009; Oleyere, 2007).
The author has drawn on existing literature, content analysis of
tender documents and the results of a short survey to achieve the
following objectives:
- To identify the social criteria being used for evaluating public
tenders in Nigeria, and
- To discuss the sorts of benefits (social value) that can be derived
from using these social criteria.
The rest of this paper is structured includes (i) an overview of the
literature on the concept of SRP, its dimensions and implementation
barriers; (ii) the theoretical lenses that guide this study; (iii) the
methodology adopted; (iv) findings and discussion; and (v) conclusion
and implications of findings.
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