Public procurement e sostenibilità. Convergenze trasversali dei sistemi giuridici contemporanei

Public procurement plays a key role within the national economy as a strategic lever to achieve broader policy objectives such as promoting sustainability and social inclusion endorsed by the Sustainable Development Goals. Traditionally, to safeguard the public interest, the procuring authorities have been using the “lowest price” criterion in awarding public contracts, subordinating social and environmental issues to the economic performance, but in recent decades, such criterion runs counter to the development of the “triple bottom line” approach and States commitments to promote an equitable and sustainable economic growth. Over the last decades, States’ public procurement policies accepted the idea that achieving value for money doesn’t necessarily mean buying the cheapest option available (moving from the “lowest price” to the “best value for money” criterion) and introduced “preferred procurement” policies such as the “green”, “social” and “sustainable” procurement. On the basis of recent studies, it is possible to outline the existence of a general convergence between legal systems belonging to different legal traditions, in the introduction of sustainable procurement strategies. An example of this convergence can be drawn from the analysis of the public procurement legal framework provided by some countries belonging to the Western Legal Tradition (in particular the European Union, Italy, United Kingdom, Canada; the United States and Australia), as well as to the East Asia (China and Japan) and India legal systems.