Green Procurement in Construction: Analysis of the Readiness Level and Key Catalyst among Construction Enablers

Abstract

In the concern of sustainability and increasing awareness of environmental degradation, the Malaysian government has promoted numerous initiatives on green growth and green procurement (GP) to maintain and minimize the ecological effects in construction. However, this initiative is still in the infancy stage as to date, there is no specific guideline delineated to the construction industry, and it has yet to be enforced by the government to the construction practitioners. In construction, green procurement is a new area, and immediate actions are needed upon the principles, guidelines, and policy and implementation framework. Hence, this research aims to analyse the readiness level, barriers, and key catalysts among construction enablers towards adopting green procurement in the construction industry. Questionnaires were distributed to 102 construction enablers, focusing on quantity surveying firms in the Klang Valley area (Kuala Lumpur and Selangor), and 87 returned the responses. The analysis uses descriptive statistics via mean score, and the standard deviation was used to measure the variables and the mean's dispersion. It is revealed that the consultants are ready to adopt green procurement. However, GP's implementation's top challenges are lack of internal expertise, low awareness about green procurement, and lack of established best practices, standardized procedures and guidelines. It can be summarized that promoting GP and its implementation requires government support in policies, initiatives, and incentives. As the current practice is fragmented, ideally, GP's adoption in construction projects needs to conform to the acceptable standards that enable specific provisions to acquire eco-friendly sustainable construction.

Supplier Selection Based on Green Procurement of Agricultural Commodities of Cassava: Environmental Perspective From Jember Regency

“…The criteria and sub-criteria used. Criteria Sub Criteria Quality (Razali et al, 2021) [1] Certificates related to quality.…”

Developing A Survey Instrument to Identify the People’s Capabilities of Green Procurement

“…The success of green procurement implementation requires these capabilities as drivers to achieve sustainability goals. It is highlighted by Razali et al [25] that one of the key catalysts to promote green procurement in the industry is commitment and strong collaboration among the stakeholders. The various project phases in construction, which include inception until the operation phase, involved various stakeholders in each phase and required people to operate in each activity.…”

Government Intervention Through Collaborative Approach in Promoting The Adoption of Green Procurement for Construction Projects

“…The availability of local green products and services will support the initiative. Razali et al (2021) highlighted that Malaysia's GGP guideline was established as the first government green procurement to cover the products and facilities for government buildings but not covering the construction sector broadly. The GGP guidelines exclude the construction activities and phases, however in Twelfth Malaysia Plan it is highlighted that the GGP implementation will incorporate procurement of works for construction and renovation.…”

“…There are some challenges pertaining to the implementation of GP in the construction process being identified namely, green procurement guidelines are fragmented (Bohari et al, 2017), lacking in terms of legislation to introduce mandatory influence (Alqadami et al, 2018), lacking in terms of understanding the current scenario and procurement practices (Alqadami et al, 2020), lack of internal expertise, low awareness level on green procurement, lack of established best practices, standardized procedures and guidelines (Razali et al, 2021), higher cost (AlNuaimi & Khan, 2019Sourani & Sohail, 2011), the establishment of GP is still lacking in terms of legal, policy, framework, and standard guidelines (Adham et al, 2012;Musa et al, 2013), lack of training and knowledge capability (Bouwer et al, 2005).…”

“…There have been several strategies introduced by the Malaysian government and one of it is to promote the awareness of green growth and the concept of green procurement (GP) to maintain and minimize environmental impacts (Razali et al, 2021). For a construction project, procurement delivery is crucial to ensure projects are delivered according to the contract.…”