Delivering best value for money is accepted as the primary UK public sector purchasing objective and indeed a statutory duty for many in sub‐central government. An investigation of a purchasing unit was carried out which aimed to establish how it sought to achieve best value for money. The...

Purpose – Small councils may not have access to professional procurement resources – one potential solution is to create a procurement shared service with another council. The purpose of this paper is to focus on evidence of the emergence and existence of inter‐organisational procurement...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to argue that the fundamental difference between private and public procurement, that of politicians, has been largely overlooked in public procurement strategy and management research. It then aims to argue that existing public procurement research could...

Considers the development and delivery of purchasing strategy within a local government setting. It demonstrates that purchasing can contribute to the political objectives of local government and suggests that strategic alignment leads to a repositioning of purchasing. Consideration is given to...

Green purchasing has seen an increase of attention from researchers but as yet few case studies are available. The responsibility being placed on local councils to consider not only the economic but also social and environmental impacts sets a new agenda. Both these changes suggest a new role...

Purpose – This paper aims to consider the problem of public procurement's contribution in moving from the current global economic downturn and accelerating the economic recovery. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review is used to establish perceived local government procurement...