Економіка та право (May 2018)
HORIZONTAL OBJECTIVES IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
Abstract
The article deals with the potential ways of strategic use of public procurement as a policy tool for achieving various policy objectives other than the primary purpose of maximizing the best value for money, e.g. to boost the development of innovation, ensure fair working conditions, minimize the use of resources throughout the supply chain or reduce the environmental impact of goods, services and works, which are called horizontal policies or goals. The present paper gives special consideration to the concept of horizontal objectives in public procurement which is still not the subject of academic debates in Ukraine. It dwells on one of the highly disputed issues, namely the terminological definition of the instrumental use of public procurement. The article gives a review of the most common horizontal policies in public procurement of some countries around the world. At the same time the paper does not aim at giving the rigid classification of horizontal considerations in public procurement. The article involves a profound analysis of different approaches to the use of public procurement as a policy tool for achieving strategic goals. The author comes to the conclusion that strategic use of public procurement enables to harmonize private interest of economic operators and state as a consumer with public (social) interest, mainly of tax payers, whose money are accumulated in the state budget. The study is valuable to develop, based on the experience of foreign countries, the relevant framework for changing the conceptual approach to public procurement in order to achieve long-term and strategic goals in Ukraine. Further research on this topic, in particular the means of implementation of horizontal goals in public procurement, will enable to determine the implications of their implementation in the context of transparency, efficiency, competition and legality within the national and international regimes, as well as to develop proposals for improving the legal regulation of public procurement.
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