Special Issue "Procurement for a Sustainable Built Environment"

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Johan Larsson
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 97187 Luleå, Sweden
Interests: collaboration in inter-organizational projects; sustainability and innovation in project-based organizations; procurement and contracting; construction project management
Prof. Dr. Anna Kadefors
E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Department of Real Estate and Construction Management, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Interests: trust and behavioral approaches to procurement and contracting; innovation in projects; project-based organizations; real estate management
Prof. Dr. Per Erik Eriksson
E-Mail Website
Co-Guest Editor
Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, 97187 Luleå, Sweden
Interests: collaboration in inter-organizational projects; innovation and learning in project-based organizations; project procurement and contracting; construction project management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Construction is a demand-driven sector where client procurement strategies shape opportunities and drivers for innovation in individual projects, as well as in the sector at large. In project-based industries such as construction, where projects and their management serve as “the way to sustainability” (Marcelino-Sádaba et al. 2015), procurement practices inevitably play a vital part in the transition towards sustainability (Larsson and Larsson 2020; Kadefors et al. 2020). As such, they may enhance both more sustainable practices in project implementation and more sustainable project outcomes. However, current construction procurement practices have been widely criticized for mostly focusing on enhancing competition and efficient project performance, in terms of the iron triangle of project cost, time and quality (Eriksson, 2008), while ignoring sustainability aspects (Ruparathna and Hewage 2015). Nevertheless, a growing political concern for sustainability has highlighted the role of public procurement as a policy instrument in this field. This development has also spurred a renewed interest in research on sustainable procurement in the built environment in the last decade (e.g. Ruparathna and Hewage 2015; Montalbán-Domingo et al. 2020; Kadefors et al. 2020). 

Studies of green public procurement in the construction sector have focused on requirements for environmental management systems (Varnäs et al. 2009; Lam et al. 2011), as well as on mapping wider rages of requirements pertaining to, for example, construction materials, site equipment, waste reduction and circularity (Ruparathna and Hewage 2015; Lăzăroiu et al. 2020). Kadefors et al. (2020) identified a range of requirements that were used to drive carbon reduction in construction projects. Recent studies on procurement for social sustainability that includes aspects such as employment, health and safety, professional ethics, and training (Montalbán-Domingo et al. 2020; Troje and Gluch 2020; Loosemore et al. 2020) have been found to not only generate social beneficial outcomes, but also improve productivity (Eadie and Rafferty 2014).   

However, construction procurement is a complex and multi-dimensional process, shaped by the delivery system, incentives and other conditions of contract. The design and implementation of sustainability requirements are dependent on this kind of general project level strategies. In recent years, procurement strategies focusing on collaborative project delivery models have been increasingly emphasized as an approach that may facilitate reaching project outcomes beyond the iron triangle (Eriksson et al. 2019; Larsson and Larsson, 2020). Collaboration throughout the supply chain strongly contributes to efficiency and innovation, especially in complex construction projects, and this applies to the sustainability domain as well (Kadefors et al. 2020; Sanchez et al. 2015). 

Implementing sustainable aspects into procurement, however, has been found to involve diverse challenges, such as lack of sustainability knowledge, and mismatch between procurement strategies and national policy issues (Ogunsanya et al. 2019). Olsson and Öjehag-Pettersson (2020) found that a major issue in public procurement relates to market failure, limiting the possibilities for politics and policies of sustainability in several ways. Kadefors et al. (2020) emphasized the importance of structural changes on both organizational and industry levels, since sustainable procurement not only embraces one organizational role, but the combined capacity and collaboration of procurement functions, environmental functions and project management. Furthermore, ambitious sustainability goals were found to rely on long-term interactions with the supplier market where procurement requirements were raised incrementally. 

The guest editors of this Special Issue would especially welcome contributions that explore and discuss aspects such as: the combination of sustainable requirements and procurement strategies during implementation; client competences and strategies; and system level structures and policies. More generally, we appreciate contributions that further our understanding within strategic, organizational, practical, behavioral and/or instrumental aspects of sustainable procurement in the built environment.

References

  1. Eadie, R.; Rafferty, S. Do corporate social responsibility clauses work? A contractor perspective. International Journal of Procurement Management 2014, 7, 19-34.
  2. Eriksson, P. E.; Volker, L.; Kadefors, A.; Lingegård, S.; Larsson, J.; Rosander, L. Collaborative procurement strategies for infrastructure projects: a multiple-case study. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers-Management, Procurement and Law 2019, 172, 197-205.
  3. Eriksson, P. E. Procurement effects on coopetition in client-contractor relationships. Journal of construction Engineering and Management 2008, 134, 103-111.
  4. Kadefors, A.; Lingegård, S.; Uppenberg, S.; Alkan-Olsson, J.; Balian, D. Designing and implementing procurement requirements for carbon reduction in infrastructure construction–international overview and experiences. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2020, 1-24.
  5. Lam, P. T. I., Chan; E.H.W, Chau, C. K., Poon, C.S. and Chun, K. P. Environmental Management System vs Green Specifications: How Do They Complement Each Other in the Construction Industry? Journal of Environmental Management 2011, 92 (3): 788–795.
  6. Larsson, J.; Larsson, L. Integration, application and importance of collaboration in sustainable project management. Sustainability 2020, 12, 585.
  7. Lăzăroiu, G.; Ionescu, L.; Uță, C.; Hurloiu, I.; Andronie, M.; Dijmărescu, I. Environmentally Responsible Behavior and Sustainability Policy Adoption in Green Public Procurement. Sustainability 2020, 12, 2110.
  8. Loosemore, M., Alkilani, S., & Mathenge, R. The risks of and barriers to social procurement in construction: a supply chain perspective. Construction Management and Economics 2020, 38(6), 552-569.
  9. Marcelino-Sádaba, S.; González-Jaen, L. F.; Pérez-Ezcurdia, A. Using project management as a way to sustainability. From a comprehensive review to a framework definition. Journal of cleaner production 2015, 99, 1-16.
  10. Montalbán-Domingo, L.; Aguilar-Morocho, M.; García-Segura, T.; Pellicer, E. Study of Social and Environmental Needs for the Selection of Sustainable Criteria in the Procurement of Public Works. Sustainability 2020, 12, 7756.
  11. Ogunsanya, O. A.; Aigbavboa, C. O.; Thwala, D. W.; Edwards, D. J. Barriers to sustainable procurement in the Nigerian construction industry: an exploratory factor analysis. International Journal of Construction Management 2019, 1-12.
  12. Olsson, D., & Öjehag-Pettersson, A. Buyinga sustainable society: the case of public procurement in Sweden. Local Environment 2020, 1-16.
  13. Ruparathna, R.; Hewage, K. Sustainable procurement in the Canadian construction industry:current practices, drivers and opportunities. Journal of Cleaner Production 2015, 119, 305-314.
  14. Sanchez, A. X. , Lehtiranta, L. M. and Hampson, K, D. Use of Contract Models to Improve Environmental Outcomes in Transport Infrastructure Construction. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management 2015, 58 (11): 1923–1943.
  15. Troje, D.; Gluch, P. Beyond Policies and Social Washing: How Social Procurement Unfolds in Practice Sustainability 2020, 12, 4956.

Dr. Johan Larsson
Prof. Anna Kadefors
Prof. Per Erik Eriksson
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • Sustainable built environment
  • Sustainable procurement
  • Green procurement
  • Procurement strategies
  • Procurement competences
  • Innovation and development
  • Triple bottom line of sustainability (social, environmental, economical)

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

Article
Evaluation of Target Value Delivery and Opportunity Management as Complementary Practices
Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7997; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147997 - 17 Jul 2021
Viewed by 397
Abstract
Opportunity management and Target Value Delivery (TVD) have both been studied extensively but separately. The two approaches have been presented as solutions for increasing value in a project for the owner and users. However, it seems there has not been much research that [...] Read more.
Opportunity management and Target Value Delivery (TVD) have both been studied extensively but separately. The two approaches have been presented as solutions for increasing value in a project for the owner and users. However, it seems there has not been much research that addresses the link between the two approaches. The purpose of this study is to increase knowledge of how TVD can facilitate opportunity management. The results from a literature review are compared with the practice in two cases: TVD in a large infrastructure project and opportunity management in a large building project. The results from the building project showed a lack of inherent motivation for change and innovation in the project organization. The identified opportunities were aimed mainly at maximizing the project’s operational value and keeping costs within the approved budget. TVD seems to handle this with extensive attention to maintain value for the end-users. Besides, the target cost element of TVD seems to complement opportunity management by creating incentives to be flexible about change and innovation. This paper’s originality is to combine two well-established approaches that have many similarities but have yet to be explored in relation to each other. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Procurement for a Sustainable Built Environment)
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Article
Policy in Practice: Social Procurement Policies in the Swedish Construction Sector
Sustainability 2021, 13(14), 7621; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147621 - 07 Jul 2021
Viewed by 457
Abstract
Procurement has long been used to fulfil policy goals, and social procurement policies can mitigate issues connected to social exclusion, unemployment and segregation. The target groups for such policies are disadvantaged people such as immigrants, young people and people with disabilities. Due to [...] Read more.
Procurement has long been used to fulfil policy goals, and social procurement policies can mitigate issues connected to social exclusion, unemployment and segregation. The target groups for such policies are disadvantaged people such as immigrants, young people and people with disabilities. Due to its close connection to exclusion and segregation issues, the construction and real estate sector has often been seen by policymakers as an appropriate sector for social procurement. However, practices to implement such policies are underdeveloped, which creates uncertainty and hinders the transition towards sustainability in the construction sector. This paper investigates how construction clients and contractors perceive the implementation of social procurement policies in practice. Drawing on policy-in-practice literature and interviewing 28 actors in the Swedish construction sector, the findings show a misalignment between: (1) social procurement policies, (2) the sector and its existing practices, and (3) the target group and their skills and needs. Although this misalignment adversely impacts policy implementation and practice formation, it can likely be mitigated if actors co-create policy goals and practices that mesh with existing practices, and provide more resources to enable policy implementation. This paper shows how procurement can help fulfil social policies and the difficulties of achieving that in practice. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Procurement for a Sustainable Built Environment)
Article
Building a Sustainable Society: Construction, Public Procurement Policy and ‘Best Practice’ in the European Union
Sustainability 2021, 13(13), 7142; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13137142 - 25 Jun 2021
Viewed by 550
Abstract
Sustainability and sustainable development are political and essentially contested social phenomena. Despite this ambiguity, they continue to hold a central position as apolitical concepts in much of social science and policy making. In Europe, public procurement is increasingly used as a tool to [...] Read more.
Sustainability and sustainable development are political and essentially contested social phenomena. Despite this ambiguity, they continue to hold a central position as apolitical concepts in much of social science and policy making. In Europe, public procurement is increasingly used as a tool to reach sustainability, a fact that actualizes an inherent tension between politically charged objectives on the one hand, and technological processes and market logics on the other. Therefore, in this article, we investigate this tension by studying policies relating to sustainable public procurement of the built environment in the EU. We argue that governing any policy domain entails the construction and representation of particular policy problems. Hence, we focus on how the ‘problems’ of sustainable public procurement are represented in EU policy guidance and best practice documents. Our analysis shows that these central policy documents are dominated by a problem representation where unsustainability is constructed as technical design flaws and market failure. This has the primary effect that it renders sustainable development as, primarily, a technical issue, and beyond politics. Therefore, we conclude that current policy reproduces ‘weak’ forms of sustainable development, where the practice is depoliticized and premised upon continued growth and innovation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Procurement for a Sustainable Built Environment)
Article
Collaborative Behavior in Relational Contracting Projects in Hong Kong—A Contractor’s Perspective
Sustainability 2021, 13(10), 5375; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13105375 - 11 May 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 709
Abstract
The construction industry in Hong Kong has adopted relational contracting (RC) as a way forward to address frequent conflicts in construction projects and to promote sustainable development. Despite this effort, adversarial behavior of project team members is still prevalent, stemming from conflicting agendas, [...] Read more.
The construction industry in Hong Kong has adopted relational contracting (RC) as a way forward to address frequent conflicts in construction projects and to promote sustainable development. Despite this effort, adversarial behavior of project team members is still prevalent, stemming from conflicting agendas, which hinders the successful implementation of RC. There is a need to improve collaborative attitudes and behavior among project team members in RC projects, but there is still a lack of understanding of factors that can promote this inter-organizational collaboration. Therefore, using the theory of planned behavior, this research investigates factors that form relational attitudes, collaborative intentions, and collaborative behavior, and their relationships in RC projects in Hong Kong. Quantitative data were collected from experienced practitioners in RC projects and were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). The results reveal that senior management commitment and relational norms are needed to nurture relational attitudes, which in turn influence the development of collaborative intentions. These intentions can eventually promote collaborative behavior, which is expressed by teamwork, affective trust, and extra-role behavior (striving beyond roles to maintain collaboration). The findings advance knowledge and contribute to practice by providing a structured process to nurture collaboration in RC projects for sustainable development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Procurement for a Sustainable Built Environment)
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Article
Preventing Youth Homelessness through Social Procurement in Construction: A Capability Empowerment Approach
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3127; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063127 - 12 Mar 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1037
Abstract
Homelessness is a serious and growing problem in the UK, exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. The latest figures estimate that 160,000 households are at risk of the worst forms of homelessness. Employment is widely recognised as being critical to reducing homelessness, yet there [...] Read more.
Homelessness is a serious and growing problem in the UK, exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis. The latest figures estimate that 160,000 households are at risk of the worst forms of homelessness. Employment is widely recognised as being critical to reducing homelessness, yet there has been no research into the role that the construction industry, as a major UK employer, can play in reducing this problem. The aim of this paper is to address this gap in knowledge and contribute to the emerging social procurement debate in construction by exploring the role that construction employment can play in reducing the risk of homelessness. Mobilising Sen’s and Nussbaum’s capabilities empowerment approach, an in-depth case study is presented of a construction employment program in Wales, UK, which was aimed at supporting young people who had experienced or who were at risk of homelessness. Contributing to the emerging social value and social procurement debate in construction and drawing on documentary analysis and interviews with young people who were homeless or at risk of homelessness who went through the program, findings indicate that these young people became empowered in ways which reduced their risk of homelessness. It is concluded that the capabilities empowerment framework is valuable in explaining how employment in the construction industry can reduce the risks of homelessness for disadvantaged youth with a care-experienced background or who were known to the criminal justice system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Procurement for a Sustainable Built Environment)

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Policy ambitions for carbon reductions in large infrastructure project – an international overview

Authors: Sofia Lingegård(1); Johanna Alkan Olsson(2); Anna Kadefors(3,4)
Affiliation: 1 Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering (SEED), Royal Institute, of Technology KTH, Sweden; [email protected] 2 Centre for Environment and Climate Research, Lund University, Sweden; [email protected] 3 Dept. of Real Estate and Construction Management, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden; 4 Dept. of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden; [email protected]
Abstract: The infrastructure construction sector is now considered a major source of CO2 emissions and a significant reduction is needed to meet international and national targets. Large infrastructure owners are important since the perception of their role in relation to targets is crucial. Procurement models and requirements are framed by their interpretation of their role in CO2 emissions, which in turn shape the properties of the facilities constructed. The implementation chain of international goals, national objectives and policies is affected by the country context. This paper aims to analyze the paths to change in regard to policy implementation for GHG reduction measures in large infrastructure projects in five countries worldwide: Australia the Netherlands and Sweden the UK, US. The results are based on an interview study with large infrastructure projects as well as documentation. Three levels are included in the analysis; policy, industry and project level. These points out drivers and barriers in regards to policy implementation for CO2 emissions and a cross-country comparison is realized. The paper provides a cross-country comparison of factors that influence the policy implementation chain from the international level to implementation in projects, including stakeholders. Additionally, a comparison of diffusion of policy in practice is provided.

Title: Unraveling the existing case studies on sustainable procurement – what can we learn about strategic and sustainability considerations
Authors: Kedar Uttam; Berit Brokking Balfors
Affiliation: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
Abstract: Sustainable procurement is one of the key tools to push for sustainable development in the built environment. There are different approaches to procuring goods and services that meet sustainability requirements. This paper draws upon the approaches and types of sustainability requirements documented in the procurement case studies available at the resource centre of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. 50 case studies set in the built environment context were accessed and analysed. Sustainability requirements were examined from a theoretical lens of sustainability considering its several dimensions. This analysis aided in the development of a framework that contributes to the strategic and sustainability considerations of sustainable procurement in the built environment.

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