Title: Incorporating Environmental Sustainability into Construction Procurement at the District Assembly Level in Ghana
Abstract: There is increasing onus on public organizations in societies to minimize the impacts of their activities on the environment. Construction projects account for high carbon emissions, high water consumptions, greater amounts of landfill wastes and high usage of raw materials. Incorporating environmental sustainability into construction procurement in public sectors should help reduce the effects of such activities on the environment. A questionnaire survey of 88 procurement professionals was conducted to determine the views of the respondents on the parts of tender documents that needed the incorporation of environmental sustainability issues, the stages in the procurement process where environmental sustainability issues may be incorporated, and the significant factors that drive the incorporation of environmental sustainability into construction procurement. These procurement professionals were purposively selected to carry out the study. Data obtained from the survey was analysed using mean score rankings and factor analysis. The findings from the study revealed that ‘the contract performance clauses’, ‘the subject matter of the contract’, and ‘the contract award criteria’, were key among the areas of the tender document where environmental considerations had to be introduced. Also, ‘evaluation of tender offers’, ‘administering contracts and confirmation of compliance with requirement’, were among the stages in the procurement process where respondents believed environmental sustainability issues could be introduced. Furthermore, four major factors namely: leadership influence, environmental culture, public influence and personal skills were identified as driving environmental sustainability into construction procurement at the district assembly level in Ghana. This research is of significance as it has highlighted that the identification and inclusion of environmental sustainability issues into construction procurement and tender documents are important factors in environmental management at the district assembly level. Also, it has ascertained that the exploitation of the knowledge of Environmental Officers within the structure of the local government system through the procurement processes is vital to ensure environmentally sustainable construction projects.
Publication Year: 2016
Publication Date: 2016-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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