The use of public procurement as a vehicle for implementing various socioeconomic preference policies has a long history. This article reviews the current state of affairs of procurement preference programs with regard to U.S. state and local governments and analyzes their impact on both the recipients and on public procurement process. Opportunities for further research are noted, and the authors conclude that the ability to navigate the difficult waters of socioeconomic preferences should be a core competency of state and local public procurement officials.

Purpose This paper aims to identify important factors in green public procurement (GPP) implementation and then to clarify how these factors affect GPP implementation. Design/methodology/approach The authors applied the Delphi method first and then conducted a focused and constrained multiple case study at 18 government procurement centers across China. Findings The authors identified four clusters of factors for successful GPP implementation: more clear, consistent and operational policy goals; a nation-wide green procurement campaign to enhance social capital and cultural resources; promoting staff’s ethics, professionalism, capacity and knowledge; and establishing checks and balances among organizations involved in the whole purchasing process. Social implications GPP can significantly improve environmental protection and sustainable development. Originality/value Based on key insights from systems theory and agency theory, the authors emphasize that GPP implementation must take down its own functional silos and adopt a process approach across organizational tiers to synchronize human resource based and inter-organizational capabilities into a unified whole through information sharing, communications and collaboration.

Sustainable development and environmental protection are the themes of the day. One popular policy tool that government uses to promote sustainable development and to protect the environment is green public procurement. Chinese government established its public procurement system in the late 1990s. It has moved to implement green procurement since 2004. In this paper, the authors will first trace the development of Chinese green public procurement program. The authors will then examine the issues involved in its implementation and make suggestions as to how to make green public procurement program more effective. This is one of the first papers examining China's green public procurement program.

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This article addresses some of the critical issues with respect to public procurement of information technology (IT). The article provides results from surveys of state public information managers and technology vendors who provide services to government to determine if IT procurements have improved in the ten years since the Kelman study on public procurements and suggests opportunities to improve public IT procurements.