Benefits and Drivers of Implementing Sustainable Procurement and Development in a Developing Economy

Sustainable procurement (SP) is evolving in developing countries and is frequently used as part of the procurement process in many developed economies. This allows procuring bodies to put into consideration social, economic, and environmental issues. Drivers and benefits towards SP implementation are vague especially in developing economy. This study is focused on appraising the benefits and drivers of implementing SP and development (SPD) in Nigeria. Structured questionnaire survey was used to collect data from construction sustainability professional promoters. The study benefited from quantitative data analysis using standard deviation, mean scores, and percentage ranking. Results from the analysis indicated that minimize negative social and environmental effects of procurement decisions, promotion of cohesion and social inclusion through economic opportunities and employment, reduction in carbon emission, promotes sustainable construction and enhance construction industry performance, and lowering usage of raw and processed materials through reuse or recycling among others are the benefits of SPD. Government regulation, promote the use of renewable sources of input, resources waste reduction, specify green product and ensure safety and health standards are specified in the design and specification of services or products top the list of SPD drivers. It is recommended that the government establish legislation and policies that would encourage procuring organizations and construction industry stakeholders to fully embrace SPD. This, in turn, has the capacity to tackle the environmental severe difficulties posed by the construction industry’s unsustainable procurement development activities. This study contributed to emerging knowledge discussions on SP in developing countries.